TREASURY

Bank of England: Scotland

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any preparations have been made for any change in the functions or remit of the Bank of England as they apply to Scotland in the event of Scotland leaving the UK.

Danny Alexander: The Government are clear that Scotland benefits from being part of UK and the UK benefits from having Scotland within it. The Government are not making plans for independence as we are confident that people in Scotland will continue to support the United Kingdom in any referendum.

Capital Allowances

Chris White: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the cost to the public purse was of capital allowances in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what the cost to the public purse was of the annual investment allowance in each of the last three years.

David Gauke: Information on the costs of capital allowances and the annual investment allowance in 2010-11 and 2011-12 is available in HMRC published statistics:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax_expenditures/table1-5.pdf
	The cost of capital allowances in 2009-10 was £19 billion (of which the annual investment allowance accounted for £1.5 billion.

Capital Gains Tax

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the additional revenue raised as a result of changes to capital gains tax since May 2010.

David Gauke: Estimates of additional capital gains tax revenue resulting from changes since May 2010 have been published in the summer Budget 2010, Budget 2011 and autumn statement 2011 reports. Estimates from these publications for each of the measures are given in the following table:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-1 7 
			 Summer Budget 2010:        
			 Capital gains tax: increase rate for higher rate taxpayers to 28% and increase in Entrepreneurs' Relief to £5 million from 23 June 2010 0 725 825 850 925 (1)— (1)— 
			         
			 Budget 2011:        
			 Capital gains tax increase Entrepreneurs' relief lifetime limit to £10 million n/a 0 -50 -70 -90 -100 (1)— 
			         
			 Autumn statement 2011:        
			 Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and CGT holiday for investments made into the scheme in 2012-13(2) n/a 0 0 -50 -25 -20 -20 
			         
			 Autumn statement 2011:        
			 Freeze annual exempt amount for 2012-13 n/a 0 0 25 25 25 30 
			 (1) No figures given (2) The cost of the SEIS scheme is mainly income tax relief.

Capital Gains Tax: Second Homes

Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps HM Revenue and Customs is taking to ensure that all second homeowners who are liable to pay capital gains tax do so.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs do not have information on whether any property in the UK is or is not a “second home”. In addition the relief that grants exemption from capital gains tax (CGT) on disposals of an individual's only or main residence allows an individual who owns more than one residence to nominate which property should qualify for that relief.
	Where compliance risks are identified HMRC will pursue the appropriate inquiries.

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are in place to regulate bonded warehouses to prevent alcohol duty fraud.

Chloe Smith: In order to operate, a warehouse-keeper and excise (bonded) warehouse must first be approved by HM Revenue and Customs as a secure place for the deposit and storage of dutiable goods. Warehouse-keepers are required to provide a security, guaranteeing against the loss of goods in warehouse, and must submit monthly returns and declarations accounting for stock, movements to other warehouses, and volumes of goods released for consumption.
	To safeguard against unsuitable persons gaining access to undutied goods, rigorous background checks are conducted, and applicants are required to submit business plans. HMRC conduct pre-approval interviews and conditions of operation may be set. Approvals may also be revoked or varied at any time for reasonable cause, such as evidence of duty fraud.
	Approved excise warehouses are subject to a programme of risk-based compliance checking.
	Where duty fraud is identified, the warehouse-keeper may be subject to criminal prosecution and/or heavy financial penalties. HMRC will seek to recover duty losses and may issue civil penalties, in addition, up to the equivalent duty value.

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many successful (a) criminal and (b) civil prosecutions have been brought following steps taken by HM Revenue and Customs to tackle alcohol duty fraud; and what the value was of the duty recouped from such actions.

Chloe Smith: 12 criminal prosecution cases involving alcohol fraud were completed with 16 defendants convicted in 2009-10, (the last year when figures are available), No prosecutions are brought in civil cases.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) focuses criminal investigations on the impact that can be achieved by closing down the criminal organisations responsible for fraud, rather than bringing a large number of small value convictions. HMRC continue to enhance the impact of its work as can be seen from recent convictions and significant sentences for the operators of an excise warehouse.
	The estimated value of the alcohol duty protected as a result of HMRC's criminal investigations was £37 million in 2009-10 and £64 million in 2010-11.

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of duty stamps on (a) spirits fraud, (b) alcohol fraud and (c) total indirect tax fraud;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the first year's operation of the alcohol fraud strategy; and whether he plans to review the effectiveness of that strategy;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the transferability of measures to tackle duty fraud on spirits to other categories of alcohol;
	(4)  what plans he has to improve the record-keeping by cash and carry warehouses to reduce alcohol duty fraud;
	(5)  what assessment he has made of the cost to small and medium-sized breweries of additional legislative measures to tackle beer duty fraud.

Chloe Smith: Spirits duty stamps were introduced in 2006 as part of HMRC's strategy to address alcohol duty fraud. Estimated revenue losses from spirits fraud were £320 million in that year, and reduced to £130 million by the end of 2009-10. However, it has not been possible to isolate the specific effect of duty stamps on fraud as it is a single element of a co-ordinated overall strategy.
	A renewed ‘Tackling Alcohol Fraud’ strategy was introduced in 2010-11 targeting all forms of alcohol fraud. In its first full year of operation the impact of HMRC enforcement activity across all alcohol products increased by over 50%. The effectiveness of the strategy has recently been reviewed by the National Audit Office.
	The Government will consult shortly on new legislative measures to reduce the supply of alcohol products to fraudsters and limit opportunities for the sale of illicit goods, for example, by cash and carry warehouses into retail supply chains. The consultation will explore a range of measures including those currently applying to spirits. The costs to the alcohol industry of any additional legislation to protect the legitimate alcohol trade will be assessed as part of the consultation process.

Government Departments: Procurement

David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures his Department has in place to ensure value-for-money for all procurement; and what savings have been identified by those procedures in the last year for which figures are available.

Chloe Smith: HM Treasury has established new tougher internal procedures to ensure value for money is achieved for all procurements. It has, for example, implemented the Cabinet Office's strict controls on consultancy spend to ensure that spend is only incurred when there is a robust business case and the work cannot be undertaken by civil servants. Also, in line with Government policy and to benefit from public sector buying power, HM Treasury is centralising common commodity procurement through contracts awarded and managed by the Government Procurement Service.
	HM Treasury not specifically record savings secured through its procurement process. However, the overall procurement expenditure for HM Treasury Group in 2009-10 was £117.5 million (excluding VAT) which fell to £108 million (excluding VAT) in 2010-11.

Higher Education: Northern Ireland

Stephen Pound: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the likely effect of any block grant reduction on the university and higher education sectors in Northern Ireland.

Danny Alexander: No assessment has been made of the likely effect of any block grant reduction on the university and higher education sectors in Northern Ireland. Once overall public expenditure budgets have been determined, the devolved Administrations have freedom to make their own spending decisions on devolved programmes within their overall totals.

Higher Education: Northern Ireland

Stephen Pound: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any element of the Northern Ireland block grant is hypothecated for further and higher education in Northern Ireland.

Danny Alexander: No elements of the Northern Ireland block grants are hypothecated. Once overall public expenditure budgets have been determined, the devolved Administrations have freedom to make their own spending decisions on devolved programmes within their overall totals.

Housing Revenue Accounts: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has had discussions with Ministers in the Welsh Government on the return of funding from Wales to his Department as a result of the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy Scheme.

Danny Alexander: Treasury and Welsh Government Ministers meet from time to time to discuss matters of common interest including the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy Scheme.

Monetary Policy

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has conducted any preparatory work in respect of the (a) monetary policy and (b) currency union implications of an independent Scotland.

Danny Alexander: The Government are clear that Scotland benefits from being part of UK and the UK benefits from having Scotland within it. I set out the Government's analysis of the issues relating to a currency union in my speech to the Scottish Council for Development and Industry on 9 December 2011, which is available on the HM Treasury website.

Moody's Investor Services: Press Releases

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2012, Official Report, column 428W, on Moody's Investor Services, whether his Department requested changes to be made to the draft press release submitted to it by Moody's Investor Services on 13 February 2012; whether any such requested changes were incorporated by Moody's Investor Services into their final press release; and whether he personally was shown a copy of the draft press release and agreed the changes that would be proposed.

Mark Hoban: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous answers of 22 February 2012, Official Report, column 840W and 1 March 2012, Official Report, column 428W.

National Insurance: Insolvency

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many businesses have entered administration as a result of steps taken by HM Revenue and Customs in respect of national insurance payments since 2010;
	(2)  how many businesses HM Revenue and Customs has taken action against for late or non payment of national insurance in each of the last three years.

David Gauke: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

NHS: Reorganisation

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the cost to the public purse of the reorganisation of the NHS since May 2010.

Danny Alexander: holding answer 26 January 2012
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to her oral question on 12 July 2011, Official Report, column 147.

Pensions: Teachers

David Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has received a representation from the Scottish Government requesting a valuation by the Government Actuary's Department of the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme.

Danny Alexander: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not received a representation from the Scottish Government requesting a valuation by the Government Actuary's Department of the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme.

Public Expenditure

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether all payments made to devolved Administrations as a result of the Chancellor's autumn statement resulted from the Barnett Formula; and what the (a) amount and (b) purpose of such payments was.

Danny Alexander: The following Barnett consequentials were given to the devolved Administrations in the 2011 autumn statement of 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  2012-13 2013-1 4 2014-15 
			 Road Transport 11.9 80.2 124.4 
			 Rail Infrastructure 1.6 1.6 6.4 
			 Growth and Green 12.3 69.2 115.4 
			 Education Capital 55.4 90.8 83.1 
			 Housing 49.7 33.6 -2.7 
			 Youth Contract 23.1 19.6 18.3 
			 Early Years Childcare 13.6 38.5 73.0 
			 Rail fares (increase by RPI+1% instead of RPI+3%) 16.6 17.2 21.6 
			 Business Rates deferral 13.6 -7.2 -6.4 
			 Business Rates: Holiday for small businesses 33.7 -0.8 0.0 
			 Total 231.6 342.7 433.2 
		
	
	In addition, £50 million was made available to the Scottish Government to co-fund the upgrade of the Caledonian Sleeper service.

Public Expenditure: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department had with representatives of the Welsh Government on the Holtham Commission's proposals for funding reform in Wales and Welsh Ministers' existing borrowing powers; and when he expects to make an announcement on funding reform.

Danny Alexander: The Government committed in the 2011 Budget to consider all aspects of the Holtham Commission's reports, including funding reform for Wales. Discussions between the Government and the Welsh Government are taking place on a regular basis.

Public Sector Net Cash Requirement

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the public sector borrowing requirement; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: The Independent Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast for public sector net borrowing in 2011-12 is £127 billion, as set out in their November Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
	The OBR will publish updated economic and fiscal forecasts alongside the Budget.

Smuggling: Alcoholic Drinks

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the duty value of seizures of (a) spirits, (b) wine and (c) beer made by HM Revenue and Customs was in each year since 2002.

Chloe Smith: The following table shows the total excise duty and VAT values of seizures of alcohol by HMRC and the UK Border Agency since 2002-03:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Beer Spirits Wine 
			 2002-03 2,710,740 11,458,141 2,150,077 
			 2003-04 2,345,194 5,289,214 2,876,574 
			 2004-05 1,770,802 2,181,992 1,364,513 
			 2005-06 2,386,026 2,422,099 620,220 
			 2006-07 1,626,375 3,781,579 578,747 
			 2007-08 4,563,048 5,722,612 2,623,020 
			 2008-09 4,536,191 4,300,225 2,959,071 
			 2009-10 3,980,513 8,943,086 4,051,375 
			 2010-11 5,942,462 12,015,389 5,993,453

Tax Avoidance: Civil Servants

Nick Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what contingency arrangements he has made for meeting the cost of unwinding the use of tax avoidance arrangements and personal service companies across the civil service;
	(2)  if he will publish details of the special circumstances in which the Treasury has permitted the use of personal service companies by senior civil servants; and what the principle public policy considerations are in permitting the use of such companies;
	(3)  what representations he has received on the use of tax avoidance schemes and personal service companies in the civil service.

Danny Alexander: The Government are committed to tackling all forms of tax avoidance and do not believe that tax avoidance is appropriate in the public sector.
	I have announced a review of public sector appointments to examine the extent to which use is made of arrangements whereby the tax position of appointees can be perceived to be minimised, including where they are paid through a personal service company, and to make appropriate recommendations.
	It will not be possible to provide further information on the scale of these arrangements and the public policy considerations arising from them, until the review has been completed.

Tax Collection: Complaints

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints HM Revenue and Customs have received about the wording of demand notices in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: This information is not available.
	HM Revenue and Customs does not categorise complaints in this way.

Taxation: Motor Vehicles

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to devolve vehicle licensing and taxation powers to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Danny Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), gave on 7 February 2012, Official Report, column 171W.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to encourage the government of Burma to end the conflict between the national army and ethnic groups in Kachin and Shan states;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to ensure that peace between the Government of Burma and the Karen National Union is long-lasting and that all political prisoners are released.

Jeremy Browne: We remain deeply concerned about ethnic-based conflicts in Burma, particularly in Shan, Kachin and Karen States. During his visit to the country in January, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), set put clearly to the Burmese President and Ministers the steps necessary to address these concerns and that need to be taken before a more fundamental shift in our relationship could take place. These are: humanitarian access to areas affected by conflict; the release of all political prisoners and free and fair by-elections; and a clear process of reconciliation between ethnic groups.
	The President told the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs that the reforms would continue and that he was confident that the Burmese Government would soon achieve ceasefires nationwide. He acknowledged the need for humanitarian assistance in conflict areas, and also said that Burma's progress to democracy is irreversible. All Ministers that the Secretary of State met said that all political prisoners would be released. A reversal on this commitment would have serious implications for any further easing of EU restrictive measures.
	Since the visit we have seen some encouraging developments. On 12 January the Burmese Government and Karen National Union signed an initial agreement that puts them on the path to a ceasefire. The following day, there was a significant release of political prisoners which will contribute to greater democratic participation in the parliamentary by-elections. We have seen a number of initial peace agreements in various ethnic areas, but the process remains fragile. We also hope to see further prisoner releases in near future.
	We will remain in close dialogue with EU partners on next steps, and with Aung San Suu Kyi, to ensure any further decisions support her dialogue and the process of reform. We will, of course, continue to raise our concerns with the Government, through the UN and countries in the region.

Departmental Data Protection

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish details of the six incidents of data loss during 2011; and whether such cases were referred to the Information Commissioner's Office.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office takes its data handling responsibilities very seriously. Our policies and procedures are designed to ensure that we are compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998 and HMG's Security Policy Framework. All our staff, including those who work for our delivery partners, have a responsibility to manage personal data effectively and securely in line with those policies and procedures. Training in data handling is mandatory for all staff.
	Of the six data loss incidents recorded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2011, one was reported to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This incident involved the possible compromise of sensitive information after the arson attack on the British embassy in Tehran in November.
	A breakdown of all six incidents is as follows:
	In January 2011 two separate incidents occurred in Madrid whereby DHL vans were broken into and a total of 32 British passports stolen. All passports were cancelled and all customers contacted. DHL reported both incidents to the police and embassy officials held a meeting with DHL to discuss arrangements to ensure the secure delivery of passports.
	In March 2011 cancelled passports containing personal details, visa, and residence permits went missing in Pretoria. All passports were cancelled and alerts sent to all ports. All staff members were interviewed, a review of procedures conducted and appropriate changes implemented.
	In May 2011 a member of staff had their briefcase stolen from their vehicle in Chicago. Nine applicant CVs and the member of staffs own appraisal were in the briefcase. The incident was reported to the police and the applicants were informed of the incident.
	In July 2011 registered mail from Dublin went missing in transit and a prisoner repatriation request document was never recovered. Both the appropriate Consular officers and the prisoner were informed. The Ministry of Justice confirmed that the prisoner transfer process was not affected by the loss of the document.
	In August 2011 a member of staff had a USB stick stolen during a visit to the British embassy in Abu Dhabi. It contained the names and details of the skills, previous places of employment and qualifications of around 320 employees. All affected members of staff were informed and appropriate security breach points were awarded to the member of staff who had saved the data on the stick.
	In November 2011 the attack on, and subsequent evacuation of, the British embassy compound in Tehran meant that sensitive information, including personal data, could have been compromised. In line with emergency procedures, UK and locally engaged staff were able to destroy some official material before they evacuated. Other materials are known to have been destroyed during the arson attack. The majority of the consular and entry clearance materials left on site are stored in secure cabinets. The Information Commissioner's Office has been notified about this incident and has recently acknowledged our notification with a request for an update.

Henderson Island

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made on the Henderson Island rat eradication programme.

Henry Bellingham: The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) conducted a ground-breaking operation in August last year as part of the programme to rid Henderson Island of non-indigenous rats. In a project supported by the British and Pitcairn Governments, the RSPB conducted a bait drop on precise Global Positioning Satellite co-ordinates using two helicopters operating from an improvised aircraft carrier. Although the final results will not be known until a survey next year, initial indications are that the project has been successful in removing the rats and protecting the unique biodiversity of this World Heritage Site.

Mali

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Mali.

Henry Bellingham: Britain, along with our EU partners, is deeply concerned by recent incidents of violence in northern Mali, including the displacement of people throughout the region. Our ambassador in Bamako engages regularly with the Malian authorities and has raised our concerns with the Malian Foreign Minister.
	In direct response to severe food shortages in the region, Britain has announced an urgent package of support to help mitigate the crisis. British aid will help treat 83,000 severely malnourished children in Niger, Chad and Mali and provide emergency livelihood support to some 34,000 families to enable them to buy food for the coming months. In addition, British aid is already reaching those in need across the Sahel through the release of £10.7 million from the United Nation's Central Emergency Response Fund—to which Britain is a major contributor.
	We continue to monitor the situation closely.

Nigeria

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the security situation in Nigeria.

Henry Bellingham: The Government of Nigeria continue to face significant security challenges. Both ongoing inter-communal conflict and violent attacks continue to cause suffering in Nigerian communities. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), made clear his condemnation of the attacks carried out in Kano City on 20 January, for which Boko Haram claimed responsibility and which resulted in the death of over 180 people. The Prime Minister met President Goodluck Jonathan on 22 February and reaffirmed our commitment to supporting the Nigerian Government in their efforts to resolve the causes of conflict.

Occupied Territories

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to press for an end to the construction and expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), gave to the right hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Mr Alexander), on 9 February 2012, Official Report, column 367W.
	Most recently I again raised this issue with the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister on 27 February.

Private Education

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the annual cost to his Department was of meeting the costs of education of employees' children who were (a) boarding in the UK, (b) attending fee paying schools in the UK as non-boarders, (c) boarding in countries other than the UK and (d) attending fee paying schools outside the UK as non-boarders in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Henry Bellingham: It is a condition of their employment that members of the diplomatic service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five years. Most parents prefer to take their children with them abroad, but in some countries we do not permit staff to take their children either for health or security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available. It is longstanding practice that the FCO helps staff meet their potentially conflicting obligations by providing financial support for their children's education overseas where necessary, or in the UK where staff choose this, or are obliged to do so given local conditions in the country to which they are posted. Continuity of education is also an important factor, particularly at secondary level.
	The FCO spent a total of £13,067,398 on UK schooling in financial year 2010-11, and £11,520,900 on day schooling for children who accompanied their parents overseas. We do not hold the information in the form necessary to break it down in the details requested and to answer the question in that format would involve disproportionate cost.
	We do not routinely pay for children to attend independent day schools in the UK. But children who have previously boarded while parents were overseas, may become day pupils at the same school to continue their education while their parents are in the UK between postings. Additionally, a few children who accompany parents overseas and are educated in the international system, may need to attend a private school in the UK to continue their education in that system during time spent here.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the next meeting of the Friends of Yemen will take place.

Alistair Burt: Re-convening the Friends of Yemen group has been conditional on the Yemeni Government showing commitment to implementing political transition. There has been significant progress in Yemen, notably the holding of successful interim presidential elections and the inauguration of President Hadi. We plan to hold an early Friends of Yemen ministerial meeting to discuss how the international community can support Yemen's transition. An announcement will shortly be made once agreement on an agenda and logistics has been reached by all co-chairs.

Zimbabwe

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe.

Henry Bellingham: Although human rights abuses are far less widespread than at their peak in 2008, politically targeted violence continues against Movement for Democratic Change activists, civil society activists and Anglicans in Harare and Manicaland. We anticipate that if and when elections do take place, the human rights situation is likely to deteriorate in the run up to polls if further pre-election reforms do not take place.
	If Zimbabwe is to move forward it is important that it addresses its human rights record and implements essential reforms in advance of elections. The ongoing engagement by the South African Development Community, as facilitator of discussions between the parties in the Inclusive Government, will be important for this to happen. We will continue to support this process.

JUSTICE

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of applications for anti-social behaviour orders in (a) the London borough of Bexley and (b) London were successful in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Home Department.
	The proportion of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) granted in the Greater London Criminal Justice System area in each year between 2006 and 2010 (the latest year for which data are currently available) is provided in Table A. Data collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice on antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) are not compiled at borough level.
	
		
			 Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued following application (1)  at all magistrates courts and county courts (2)  in the Greater London Criminal Justice System (CJS) area, the number of such application refused and the proportion granted, as reported to the Ministry of Justice (3)  by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, 2006 to 2010 
			 Greater London CJS area 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 ASBOs applied for 130 134 68 55 68 
			 Of which:      
			 Refused 0 2 0 0 0 
			 Proportion granted (percentage) 100 98.5 100 100 100 
			 (1) The following bodies can apply to courts to get an ASBO issued: British Transport police, Housing Action Trusts, local government authorities, police, registered social landlords, Transport for London and the Environment Agency. Transport for London was granted the power to apply for ASBOs in its own right by the Secretary of State for the Home Department in September 2006. (2) Includes ASBOs issued on application by magistrates courts acting in their civil capacity and county courts. These orders became available on 1 April 1999. Does not include those ASBOs made following conviction for a relevant criminal offence. (3) Prior to the creation of the Ministry of Justice on 9 May 2007, numbers of ASBOs issued were reported to Home Office by the Court Service. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what reduction in carbon dioxide emissions his Department has made under the 10:10 initiative.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice did not sign up to the 10:10 campaign.
	The Ministry of Justice achieved an 11.5% reduction between May 2010 and May 2011 against the Prime Minister's target for central Government to reduce their carbon emissions by 10%. More information can be found here:
	http://data.gov.uk/departmental-performance-co2-emissions-reduction-date

Departmental Public Expenditure

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent progress he has made on his Department's Public Value Programme; and what the (a) number of civil service staff in scope for privatisation is and (b) timescale is for implementation; whether a value for money assessment will be undertaken; and whether there will be an opportunity for an in-house bid or bids.

Jonathan Djanogly: HM Courts and Tribunals Service is currently working on the Enforcement Public Value Programme which proposes to increase the level of magistrates court fine collection over existing levels while reducing the cost of collection.
	After consideration of the current services and future requirements, I have agreed that HM Courts and Tribunals Service should explore the potential of creating a service delivery partnership, with the objective of building on the improvements we have already made. It is envisaged that any such partnership would be able to provide the level of investment necessary to achieve these objectives.
	HM Courts and Tribunals Service has not yet finalised the precise elements of current service that will be in scope, and therefore it is not yet definite who is likely to be affected by any resulting change.
	A procurement process will be conducted to identify a potential partner, and this process will include appropriate assessment of both qualitative and quantitative factors, with a view to identifying the best value for money solution. The procurement will be conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner and in accordance with Public Sector Procurement Directive (2004/18/EC) as implemented through the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended) (SI2006/5).
	We have not yet determined whether there will be an opportunity to accept an in-house bid.

Domestic Violence

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many additional legal aid cases he expects will be covered by the change of definition to domestic violence announced on 29 February 2012.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Government have been clear throughout the passage of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill that we expect no additional legal aid cases arising from using the Association of Chief Police Officer's definition of domestic violence compared to the definition of domestic violence originally used in the Bill.

Fines

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what data from government departments the Public Value Programme's successful bidder will have available to it for the collection and enforcement of criminal fines.

Jonathan Djanogly: I have agreed that HM Courts and Tribunals Service should explore the potential of creating a service delivery partnership, with the objective of building on the improvements we have already made. We have not yet determined what data access may be required at this stage.

Prisoners: EU Nationals

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many non-UK EU citizens were serving a custodial sentence in the UK in each of the last 10 years broken down by the (a) offence, (b) length of sentence and (c) prison in which they were held.

Crispin Blunt: The requested breakdowns of European Union national prisoners in England and Wales 2002 to 2011 are shown in tables 1 to 3.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			 Table 1: Immediate custodial sentenced prison population of EU nationals by offence group, 30 June 2002 to 2011 England and Wales 
			 Offence group 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Violence against the person 196 222 259 261 326 333 411 469 536 610 
			 Sexual offences 84 85 95 108 147 181 188 236 311 335 
			 Robbery 132 143 124 133 146 175 189 210 231 262 
			 Burglary 119 127 118 144 150 160 174 176 201 211 
			 Theft and handling 75 90 120 114 133 148 158 192 260 348 
			 Fraud and forgery 45 52 81 92 99 97 114 125 104 113 
			 Drug offences 524 511 523 508 525 451 403 379 426 441 
			 Motoring offences 31 51 45 51 67 48 60 53 58 83 
			 Other offences 98 134 136 127 153 158 176 182 238 279 
			 Offence not recorded 17 11 13 11 9 1 7 33 32 14 
			 Total 1,321 1,426 1,514 1,550 1,754 1,752 1,880 2,055 2,397 2,696 
			 Data sources and quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Immediate custodial sentenced prison population of EU nationals by sentence length, 30 June 2002 to 2011 England and Wales 
			 Sentence length 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Less than or equal to 6 months 89 124 134 133 216 168 237 273 339 435 
			 Greater than 6 months to less than 12 months 23 36 41 42 66 65 91 76 109 136 
			 12 months to less than 4 years 358 390 396 450 481 511 554 554 658 722 
			 4 years or more (excluding indeterminates) 752 778 849 829 850 816 757 774 892 949 
			 Indeterminate sentences 98 97 94 95 142 192 240 284 325 367 
			 Recalls(1) — — — — — — — 94 74 87 
			 Total 1,321 1,426 1,514 1,550 1,754 1,752 1,880 2,055 2,397 2,696 
			 (1 )Due to the introduction of a new prison IT system, prior to 2009 the prison population was taken from a different source and recalls are shown separately (previously shown in the relevant sentence length band). Data sources and quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Prison population of EU nationals by prison establishment, 30 June 2002 to 2011 England and Wales 
			 Establishment 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Altcourse 10 14 12 19 23 23 24 32 32 33 
			 Ashfield 2 4 1 8 2 6 6 6 8 12 
			 Ashwell 7 5 15 16 11 13 15 2 4 0 
			 Askham Grange 4 0 5 1 0 2 2 0 0 3 
			 Aylesbury 7 6 6 10 12 18 13 15 13 18 
			 Bedford 15 14 24 22 16 32 34 33 39 41 
			 Belmarsh 51 36 42 45 48 54 42 40 45 50 
			 Birmingham 19 13 35 27 33 28 46 48 56 71 
			 Blantyre House 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Blundeston 23 31 14 25 23 9 34 18 24 17 
			 Brinsford 4 4 5 1 5 9 8 11 8 15 
			 Bristol 12 10 10 10 14 18 19 21 21 19 
			 Brixton 59 51 56 41 76 50 66 94 87 80 
			 Bronzefield 0 0 6 31 50 41 24 21 42 37 
			 Buckley Hall 1 6 6 9 3 6 7 5 1 1 
			 Bullingdon 18 34 30 26 42 36 40 45 54 38 
		
	
	
		
			 Bullwood Hall 11 6 10 5 5 30 37 28 43 75 
			 Bure 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 18 
			 Canterbury 45 18 7 9 26 32 42 65 58 98 
			 Cardiff 0 5 4 9 11 11 13 15 11 16 
			 Channings Wood 7 8 6 8 7 10 16 8 3 7 
			 Chelmsford 35 24 23 35 19 29 34 23 28 45 
			 Coldingley 19 13 14 9 17 23 12 3 8 9 
			 Cookham Wood 8 7 2 12 12 9 0 3 4 1 
			 Dartmoor 9 5 4 12 8 9 8 20 16 18 
			 Deerbolt 1 1 1 0 3 4 2 4 6 3 
			 Doncaster 5 10 8 13 24 16 22 28 37 25 
			 Dorchester 8 10 3 9 7 6 6 2 4 12 
			 Dovegate 44 43 28 15 14 22 26 17 22 23 
			 Dover IRC 28 9 5 2 7 6 7 6 7 4 
			 Downview 12 16 16 28 25 25 17 13 18 24 
			 Drake Hall 5 15 16 6 8 10 5 3 9 22 
			 Durham 4 9 4 9 13 10 10 14 15 11 
			 East Sutton Park 0 1 8 5 3 3 1 0 1 4 
			 Eastwood Park 7 6 4 0 4 6 4 7 7 10 
			 Erlestoke 1 4 12 12 12 11 4 2 6 2 
			 Everthorpe 2 3 1 1 6 5 7 5 5 7 
			 Exeter 8 8 13 7 12 11 13 15 14 18 
			 Featherstone 5 6 8 8 13 11 10 15 18 12 
			 Feltham 25 22 27 32 29 19 28 36 36 35 
			 Ford 16 21 31 30 11 11 30 18 27 10 
			 Forest Bank 13 8 5 11 16 16 21 12 25 22 
			 Foston Hall 4 3 2 2 3 6 6 2 1 12 
			 Frankland 12 14 11 8 9 12 14 14 17 19 
			 Full Sutton 15 13 17 12 14 10 15 10 14 26 
			 Garth 11 11 9 11 9 14 13 15 16 27 
			 Gartree 7 6 7 9 10 6 5 15 27 32 
			 Glen Parva 9 9 9 12 14 17 18 13 23 25 
			 Gloucester 1 3 11 3 8 7 11 15 20 12 
			 Grendon/Spring Hill 10 12 15 20 13 8 6 11 10 6 
			 Guys Marsh 8 10 7 11 13 16 15 18 10 17 
			 Haslar IRC 11 0 4 3 2 3 3 0 3 2 
			 Haverigg 7 3 5 3 1 5 11 6 22 23 
			 Hewell(1) 20 26 14 20 28 36 46 50 75 41 
			 High Down 23 28 35 39 42 42 49 67 49 53 
			 Highpoint (North and South) 41 42 57 46 71 66 63 64 98 105 
			 Hindley 4 7 2 1 2 2 6 3 4 6 
			 Hollesley Bay 8 7 15 13 1 8 5 8 6 4 
			 Holloway 40 36 43 52 26 34 49 46 43 87 
			 Holme House 0 5 4 10 14 13 6 3 6 7 
			 Hull 3 4 8 10 12 23 17 32 28 42 
			 Huntercombe 4 5 8 10 6 7 6 4 3 3 
			 ISIS(2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 
			 Isle of Wight(3) 42 48 68 55 52 60 62 69 76 68 
			 Kennet 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 2 1 3 
			 Kingston 4 3 3 7 6 4 3 4 3 2 
			 Kirkham 3 4 5 8 2 2 5 6 4 4 
			 Kirklevington 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Lancaster 6 6 6 4 6 9 8 8 10 6 
			 Latchmere House 4 5 7 8 6 2 4 1 2 2 
			 Leeds 11 10 13 15 19 21 33 32 26 40 
			 Leicester 4 4 7 12 8 8 14 12 12 16 
			 Lewes 6 18 19 15 24 22 28 15 23 27 
			 Leyhill 8 7 14 8 9 7 17 11 3 12 
			 Lincoln 8 2 17 9 20 20 39 38 40 46 
		
	
	
		
			 Lindholme 2 9 8 8 22 8 14 31 46 54 
			 Littlehey 12 12 26 23 22 26 26 25 35 49 
			 Liverpool 5 6 15 12 16 16 27 29 40 28 
			 Long Lartin 20 22 14 15 10 14 12 14 22 19 
			 Low Newton 1 2 1 10 7 1 3 6 8 4 
			 Lowdham Grange 31 42 25 21 21 21 23 22 31 38 
			 Maidstone 11 19 23 25 39 41 17 54 60 56 
			 Manchester 20 29 22 28 41 44 38 45 56 27 
			 Moorland 7 7 3 3 11 8 9 12 17 6 
			 Morton Hall(4) 11 24 38 42 43 33 35 36 41 10 
			 Mount 28 21 18 39 56 52 39 38 45 49 
			 New Hall 4 5 6 6 6 8 8 9 9 13 
			 North Sea Camp 4 3 5 3 2 5 7 2 4 2 
			 Northallerton 1 2 0 1 0 1 4 1 4 1 
			 Northumberland(5) 3 4 6 5 7 8 6 7 6 3 
			 Norwich 17 21 24 18 20 13 28 24 35 54 
			 Nottingham 7 10 7 5 11 8 17 15 18 45 
			 Onley 5 8 8 10 15 13 13 14 18 15 
			 Parc 3 10 9 10 18 16 11 14 15 16 
			 Pentonville 64 58 86 86 110 99 124 95 109 150 
			 Peterborough(6) 0 0 0 24 37 34 47 68 81 83 
			 Portland 8 10 12 8 20 11 8 12 21 18 
			 Preston 9 7 5 1 16 17 13 10 16 17 
			 Ranby 6 6 7 15 18 14 19 21 25 37 
			 Reading 3 4 6 7 6 4 5 7 5 6 
			 Risley 10 14 10 9 6 12 15 36 34 38 
			 Rochester 3 3 14 11 11 11 5 21 33 22 
			 Rye Hill 40 32 32 12 15 29 31 42 38 37 
			 Send 11 18 13 12 15 9 13 15 9 12 
			 Sheppey cluster(7) 137 178 196 177 151 129 116 128 152 154 
			 Shepton Mallet 1 3 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 
			 Shrewsbury 0 3 4 1 3 4 7 9 6 11 
			 Stafford 5 7 9 10 10 11 12 9 16 17 
			 Stocken 7 9 10 7 15 10 14 17 10 9 
			 Stoke Heath 4 2 3 3 7 4 7 8 10 3 
			 Styal 8 4 16 9 8 12 12 12 12 15 
			 Sudbury 9 9 13 5 5 4 6 5 8 3 
			 Swansea 5 4 4 11 6 14 9 11 3 9 
			 Swinfen Hall 1 1 2 4 3 4 6 7 19 18 
			 Thorn Cross 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 
			 Usk/Prescoed 7 5 7 7 4 6 5 7 7 6 
			 Verne 69 53 47 68 92 81 69 81 98 90 
			 Wakefield 9 8 9 6 15 14 15 21 23 20 
			 Wandsworth 81 98 85 117 126 121 155 215 240 284 
			 Warren Hill 0 2 2 0 2 2 1 7 2 2 
			 Wayland 23 31 20 30 44 46 39 49 19 21 
			 Wealstun 4 6 4 5 8 9 7 7 7 6 
			 Weare 19 13 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Wellingborough 14 12 8 12 13 24 25 28 22 41 
			 Werrington 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 5 
			 Wetherby 0 1 0 3 1 1 1 2 2 3 
			 Whatton 4 6 6 3 14 17 17 12 10 12 
			 Whitemoor 34 32 20 21 16 18 10 19 30 36 
			 Winchester 11 15 19 18 24 22 24 22 23 25 
			 Wolds 8 5 10 5 0 2 7 2 1 4 
			 Woodhill 16 11 40 36 34 30 39 45 36 48 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 47 68 96 101 113 122 127 143 139 150 
		
	
	
		
			 Wymott 9 8 13 13 10 11 17 15 20 20 
			            
			 Total 1,765 1,861 2,073 2,160 2,469 2,477 2,704 2,957 3,354 3,686 
			 IRC = Immigration removal centre. (1) HMP Hewell was created by an amalgamation of the three former prisons, Blakenhurst, Brockhill and Hewell Grange on 25 June 2008; as of 30 September 2011 the Brockhill site closed. (2) HMP and YOI Isis, which opened on 28 July 2010, is sited within the perimeter wall of HMP Belmarsh. (3) HMP Isle of Wight was created by an amalgamation of the three former prisons, Albany, Camp Hill and Parkhurst on 1 April 2009. (4) On 13 January 2011 the Secretary of State for Justice announced that HMP Morton Hall, will close (having previously been a female prison) and then re-open as an Immigration Removal Centre, holding immigration detainees on behalf of UKBA. On 16 May Morton Hall began operating as an immigration removal centre. (5) HMP Northumberland is the new name for Acklington and Castington. (6) Peterborough is a dual purpose prison for men and women. (7) Sheppey cluster includes: Elmley, Stanford Hill and Swaleside. Note: These figures differ from tables 1 and 2 as they include all custody types: Remand, Sentenced, Fine Defaulters and Non-criminal prisoners. Data sources and quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisoners: Repatriation

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of non-UK EU citizens serving a custodial sentence in the UK that his Department expects to be able to repatriate to their home member state under the EU Prisoner Transfer framework in each of the next five years;
	(2)  how many non-UK EU citizens who were serving a custodial sentence in the UK his Department has repatriated to their home member state since the EU Prisoner Transfer framework came into force.

Crispin Blunt: Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA (the EU Prisoner Transfer Agreement) which will govern the transfer of prisoners between member states of the European Union, entered into force on 5 December 2011. To date seven member states, including the United Kingdom, have implemented the compulsory arrangements. The Government have not made a specific assessment of the number of EU nationals who might be transferred under this agreement. However, we expect to see a steady increase in the number of EU nationals who are transferred as other member states implement the agreement. We are encouraging member states who have not yet done so to implement the agreement at the earliest opportunity.
	Since 5 December 2011, 10 EU nationals have been transferred from England and Wales to other member states to continue serving their sentences. Transfer took place under existing voluntary arrangements for the transfer of prisoners between member states of the EU. No prisoners have yet been transferred under the new EU prisoner transfer agreement. In most cases a deportation order is necessary in order to effect the transfer. 24 prisoners have been identified as eligible for transfer. They have been referred to UKBA for consideration for deportation.
	The transfer of prisoners from Scotland and from Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.

Public Expenditure

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the business model for his Department's Public Value Programme; for what reasons a model based on privatisation was selected; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: HM Courts and Tribunals Service is currently working on the Enforcement Public Value Programme with proposals to increase the level of magistrates court fine collection over existing levels while reducing the cost of collection.
	I have agreed that HM Courts and Tribunals Service should explore the potential of creating a service delivery partnership, with the objective of building on the improvements we have already made. Continued improvements would require substantial financial investment to develop and upgrade processes further still. A partnership would bring the investment and technology we need to achieve our aspirations for compliance and enforcement services in the future.

Reoffenders

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many offenders were recalled to prison in (a) each English region and (b) Wales between 1 January 2008 and 1 January 2012;
	(2)  how many offenders under the supervision of each probation trust in England and Wales were recalled to prison between 1 January 2008 and 1 January 2012.

Crispin Blunt: Data are held centrally on the prison population on the last day of each month, so figures are not available for 1 January each year.
	Adult offenders serving a sentence of 12 months and over (and all young offenders aged under 22) are released from prison, in most cases automatically at the halfway point of their sentence, under licensed supervision to the Probation Service. Offenders released on licence may be recalled to custody if their behaviour gives cause for concern.
	The following table provides data by regions in England and Wales and by probation area for three quarters of 2008, all quarters for years 2009 and 2010 and the first three quarters of 2011 (latest available).
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			 Licence recalls to prison, by England and Wales regions and probation areas, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 
			 Region and probation area 2008 (1) 2009 2010 2011 (2) 
			 North East 536 763 823 627 
			 Durham 77 129 155 154 
			 Northumbria 298 404 447 337 
			 Teesside 161 230 221 136 
			      
			 North West 1,686 2,315 2,458 1,809 
			 Cheshire 135 223 220 150 
			 Cumbria 95 103 140 100 
			 Lancashire 303 444 472 387 
			 Greater Manchester 773 1049 1116 812 
			 Merseyside 380 496 510 360 
			      
			 Yorkshire and  Humber 1,258 1,827 1,857 1,526 
			 Humberside 278 391 387 290 
			 North Yorkshire 94 130 145 88 
			 South Yorkshire 351 502 538 379 
			 West Yorkshire 535 804 787 769 
			      
			 East Midlands 950 1,333 1,401 1,142 
			 Derbyshire 194 262 310 254 
			 Leicestershire 197 255 264 215 
			 Lincolnshire 96 113 121 113 
			 Northamptonshire 128 210 185 150 
			 Nottinghamshire 335 493 521 410 
			      
			 West Midlands 1,175 1,710 1,668 1,308 
			 Staffordshire 201 277 275 228 
			 Warwickshire 86 140 110 71 
			 West Mercia 102 173 201 152 
			 West Midlands 786 1,120 1,082 857 
			      
			 Eastern 693 957 1,095 779 
			 Bedfordshire 115 187 200 115 
			 Cambridgeshire 95 142 170 135 
			 Essex 171 239 300 232 
			 Hertfordshire 107 130 142 101 
			 Norfolk 124 159 158 107 
			 Suffolk 81 100 125 89 
			      
			 London 1,543 2,401 2,516 2,013 
			      
			 South East 1,004 1,481 1,532 1,237 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 254 344 368 273 
			 Kent 208 348 348 285 
			 Surrey 66 109 116 90 
			 Sussex 183 255 310 255 
			 Thames Valley 293 425 390 334 
			      
			 South West 690 991 1,099 939 
			 Avon and Somerset 237 365 452 366 
		
	
	
		
			 Devon and Cornwall 159 249 281 254 
			 Dorset 131 150 134 128 
			 Gloucestershire 104 142 136 123 
			 Wiltshire 59 85 96 68 
			      
			 Wales 597 937 959 824 
			 Dyfed Powys 45 65 65 47 
			 Gwent 113 147 178 109 
			 North Wales 111 174 149 148 
			 South Wales 328 551 567 520 
			 (1) Reports started in the second quarter of 2008 and as such data are not available for the first quarter. (2) Data are not yet available for the last quarter of 2011.

Repossession Orders

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many repossessions took place in (a) Leeds North West constituency, (b) Yorkshire and (c) England in each year since 2009; and what estimate he has made of the likely number of repossessions in each area in each of the next three years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The following table shows the numbers of claims leading to orders being made for the repossession of property by mortgage lenders and landlords in (a) Leeds North West constituency, (b) West Yorkshire, (c)Yorkshire and the Humber, and (d) England in each year since 2009. The Ministry of Justice does not hold information on the total numbers of repossessions of property (including where keys are handed back voluntarily).
	These figures represent the numbers of claims leading to orders being made. This is more accurate than the number of orders, removing the double-counting of instances where a single claim leads to more than one order. It is also a more meaningful measure of the number of homeowners who are subject to court repossession actions.
	These figures do not indicate how many properties have actually been repossessed. Repossessions can occur without a court order, such as where borrowers hand the keys back to the lender. Also, not all possession orders result in repossession. Many orders are suspended and if the borrower complies with the repayment arrangements set out in the suspended order the property will not be repossessed.
	Claims leading to orders figures for all parliamentary constituencies in England and Wales were this morning placed on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/civil-justice/mortgage-possession
	The Council of Mortgage Lenders in December 2011 released a forecast of 45,000 repossessions in the United Kingdom in 2012. They have not yet released a forecast for 2013 and do not publish regional estimates.
	
		
			 Number of mortgage (1)  and landlord (2,3)  possession claims leading to orders made (4,5,6)  for properties in Leeds North West constituency (7,8) , West Yorkshire (7) , Yorkshire and the Humber (7)  and England (7) , 2009-11 
			  Mortgage possession Landlord Possession 
			  2009 2010 (9) 2011 2009 2010 (9) 2011 
			 Leeds North West constituency 70 50 55 55 45 60 
			 West Yorkshire (Met county) 3,680 3,020 2,850 2,635 2,620 2,900 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 7,905 6,600 6,500 7,160 6,780 7,240 
			 England 67,315 53,045 51,270 87,885 86,310 93,680 
			 (1) Includes all types of mortgage lenders. (2) Includes all types of landlord whether social or private. (3) Landlord actions include those made under both standard and accelerated procedures. Landlord actions via the accelerated procedure enable the orders to be made solely on the basis of written evidence for shorthold tenancies, when the fixed period of tenancy has come to an end. (4) The number of claims that lead to an order includes all claims in which the first order, whether outright or suspended, is made during the period. (5) The court, following a judicial decision, may grant an order for possession immediately. This entitles the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the defendant evicted. However, even where a warrant for possession is issued, the parties can still negotiate a compromise to prevent eviction. (6) Includes outright and suspended orders, the latter being where the court grants the claimant possession but suspends the operation of the order. Provided the defendant complies with the terms of suspension, which usually require the defendant to pay the current mortgage or rent instalments plus some of the accrued arrears, the possession order cannot be enforced. (7) All figures are rounded to the nearest five. (8) Data up until the first quarter of 2010 (January to March) will reflect Leads North West constituency boundaries as fixed at the 2005 general election and for the rest of 2010 and 2011 the re-fixed boundaries as of May 2010. (9) All period figures are based on provisional data Source: Ministry of Justice

Repossession Orders: North West

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many homes were repossessed by mortgage lenders in (a) the North West, (b) Tameside Borough and (c) Stockport Borough in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: The table shows the numbers of claims leading to orders being made for the repossession of property by mortgage lenders in (a) the North West, (b) Tameside borough and (c) Stockport borough in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011. The Ministry of Justice does not hold information on the total numbers of repossessions of property (including where keys are handed back voluntarily).
	These figures represent the numbers of claims leading to orders being made. This is more accurate than the number of orders, removing the double-counting of instances where a single claim leads to more than one order. It is also a more meaningful measure of the number of homeowners who are subject to court repossession actions.
	These figures do not indicate how many properties have actually been repossessed. Repossessions can occur without a court order, such as where borrowers hand the keys back to the lender. Also, not all possession orders result in repossession. Many orders are suspended and if the borrower complies with the repayment arrangements set out in the suspended order the property will not be repossessed.
	Claims leading to orders figures for all regions and local authority areas in England and Wales in 2011 were recently published on 9 February 2012. This statistical bulletin is available from the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/civil-justice/mortgage-possession
	
		
			 Number of mortgage (1)  possession claims leading to orders made (2,3,4,5)  for properties in  north-w est, Tameside borough and Stockport borough, 2010-11 
			  2010 2011 
			 North-west 9,245 (*)9,210 
			 Tameside borough 385 *335 
			 Stockport borough 305 *300 
			 (1) Includes all types of mortgage lenders. (2) The number of claims that lead to an order includes all claims in which the first order, whether outright or suspended, is made during the period. (3) The court, following a judicial decision, may grant an order for possession immediately. This entitles the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the defendant evicted. However, even where a warrant for possession is issued, the parties can still negotiate a compromise to prevent eviction. (4) Includes outright and suspended orders, the latter being where the court grants the claimant possession but suspends the operation of the order. Provided the defendant complies with the terms of suspension, which usually require the defendant to pay the current mortgage or rent instalments plus some of the accrued arrears, the possession order cannot be enforced. (5) All figures are rounded to the nearest 5. Note: All period figures denoted by ‘*’ are based on provisional data. Source: Ministry of Justice

Sentencing

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many prisoners serving an indeterminate public protection sentence in England and Wales who have been assessed as suitable to be held in open conditions but are still waiting to be moved to a Category D prison, have already served their tariff;
	(2)  how many prisoners serving an indeterminate public protection sentence in England and Wales who have been recommended for transfer to a Category D prison are still awaiting transfer, broken down by age; and for how long each prisoner has been waiting since being recommended.

Crispin Blunt: As at 2 December 2011, there were 405 indeterminate sentence prisoners (ISPs) who had passed their tariff expiry date and had been approved by the Secretary of State for transfer to open conditions but were located in closed. This figure includes those serving a life sentence and those serving an indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP).
	This figure is taken from a snapshot of data. ISPs are prioritised for transfer to open conditions using the date the Secretary of State approved their move. Whether prisoners are serving an IPP or a life sentence is not relevant to the prioritisation criteria and as a result was not, at that time, recorded as part of the process.
	Providing a figure for IPPs and the age and length of waiting time would incur disproportionate costs as that data has not been retained in a recorded form. In order to provide a breakdown of the data in the categories requested, retrospective checks of individual prisoners' records would have to be performed to recreate the list at the time it was generated.
	These data are subject to variation due to progress of individual cases including prisoners' removal from open conditions following adverse developments and Parole Board decisions following review.
	This figure was drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Sentencing

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department has taken to ensure that magistrates are aware of community sentencing projects in their area.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Government welcome and encourage the sharing of information between probation and magistrates about local community sentencing and other offender-related projects. We agree that magistrates should be encouraged to visit probation on a regular basis and I am sure that probation trusts and others engaged in community sentencing initiatives welcome their interest.
	At a national level the National Sentencer and Probation Forum enables probation, judges and the department to share information on the national picture. There are also arrangements for local liaison meetings governed by a protocol issued by the Senior Presiding Judge.

Sentencing

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the recidivism rate is for children and young people up to the age of 25 who have received (a) custodial and (b) community sentences in each of the last 10 years for which data are available.

Crispin Blunt: Your question has been answered using the Ministry of Justice's published proven reoffending statistics, for juvenile offenders aged 10 to 17 and adult offenders aged 18 or over. Proven reoffending is measured over a one-year period from the point an offender receives their first court order or, in the case of custody, when they are released from prison.
	Table 1 shows the proportion of adults aged 18 to 24 and juveniles aged 10 to 17 that reoffended within a 12-month period.
	
		
			 Table 1 
			  Reoffending rate of 18 to 24-year-olds released from custody Reoffending rate of juveniles released from custody 
			 2000 61.0 76.8 
			 2002 60.8 74.8 
			 2003 59.6 74.9 
			 2004 55.6 75.5 
			 2005 54.6 73.8 
			 2006 54.3 74.7 
			 2007 55.9 74.1 
			 2008 55.1 72.1 
			 2009 52.8 70.6 
		
	
	Table 2 shows the same information for adults aged 18 to 24 starting a community sentence and juveniles aged 10 to 17 starting a community penalty.
	
		
			 Table 2 
			  Reoffending rate of 18 to 24-year-olds starting a community sentence Reoffending rate of juveniles starting a community penalty 
			 2000 46.7 60.5 
			 2002 47,4 63.5 
			 2003 46.6 68.0 
			 2004 43.6 66.5 
			 2005 42.4 66.8 
			 2006 41.8 67.7 
			 2007 42.1 66.7 
			 2008 41.4 65.9 
			 2009 40.0 65.6 
		
	
	Please note that reoffending data are not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on court orders.
	Reoffending rates by sentence type should not be compared to assess the effectiveness of sentences, as there is no control for known differences in offender characteristics and the type of sentence given.
	We recognise that the reoffending rate for young people leaving custody is too high. Custody for young people is a last resort and used only for the most serious and persistent offenders. Young people leaving custody are therefore a challenging group with complex and wide ranging problems which require intensive intervention and support.

Sentencing: Mental Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of (a) children and young adults and (b) adults who have received custodial sentences have been diagnosed as having mental health problems in the latest period for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	A survey by the Office for National Statistics in 1997 estimated that around 90% of adult prisoners had at least one of the five disorders considered in the survey (personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, alcohol misuse and drug dependence).
	In the study ‘Mental Health Needs and Effectiveness of Provision for Young Offenders in Custody and in the Community’ (Professor Richard Harrington and Professor Sue Bailey, Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, 2005) 31% of young offenders were identified as having a mental health problem.

Sentencing: Young People

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based treatment of children and young people who have received custodial sentences.

Crispin Blunt: Mindfulness-based therapy techniques cover a range of therapeutic approaches which include looking at thinking and attitudes. Programmes drawing on elements of these approaches are administered in the adult and juvenile secure estate. For example, the Jets programme, which is an under 18 accredited intervention uses similar techniques.
	The Department has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based treatment for children and young people who have received custodial sentences.

Translation Services

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many complaints his Department has received regarding Applied Language Solutions (ALS) in the last year; and if he will calculate the number of complaints that concerned (a) poor or substandard interpreters, (b) ALS failing to provide interpreters and (c) interpreters being placed on ALS list of interpreters without the consent of the interpreters concerned.

Crispin Blunt: The contract for ALS to begin supplying language services to the Ministry of Justice commenced on 12 December 2011 for the criminal courts in the north-west and was fully implemented on 30 January 2012. Prior to the contracts implementation, the Department received a number of representations from interpreters opposed to our plans to contract for interpreting services, these included some complaints about Applied Language Solutions. Interpreters, who have not signed up to work with ALS, continue to raise their concerns about the contract with us.

Translation Services

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2012, Official Report, columns 71-2W, on Applied Language Solutions, what steps his Department has taken to improve the performance of Applied Language Solutions;
	(2)  what qualifications the Framework Agreement and the contract with Applied Language Solutions specify interpreters must have under (a) Tier 1, (b) Tier 2 and (c) Tier 3.

Crispin Blunt: We are committed to ensuring the rights and needs of those who require interpreters are safeguarded and we have asked the contractor to take urgent steps to improve performance. The contractor is providing additional staff to deal with bookings, further targeted recruitment of interpreters in key languages and improvements to the call handling and complaints process.
	The Framework specifies a number of potential qualifications for foreign language interpreters at each of the three Tiers:
	Tier One
	The interpreter must have one or more of the following:
	Chartered Institute of Linguists Diploma in Public Service Interpreting, DPSI, (English Law Option);
	Chartered Institute of Linguists Certificate in Community Interpreting, CCI;
	Metropolitan Police Test (post 1997) and an Honours Degree or higher in Interpreting.
	Or:
	Membership of National Register Public Sector Interpreters; or
	Membership of Association of Police and Court Interpreters.
	Together with:
	At least 100 hours public sector interpreting experience;
	References; and
	A pass at the assessment centre to the tier one standard.
	Tier Two
	The interpreter must have one or more of the following:
	‘Partial DPSI’ i.e. the interpreter must have passed all modules with the exception of written translation;
	A degree in linguistics, English philology, Modern Languages or MA in Teaching of English, or other language related diplomas where English figures as part of the course completed.
	Together with:
	Previous or current employment in criminal justice services in their countries of origin,
	Legal training in the UK or abroad, or other exposure to criminal justice work through other channels is also acceptable (volunteer and/or paid work in the community for police services or work for Victim Support, for example);
	University level education (any degree);
	At least 100 hours public sector interpreting experience;
	References; and
	A pass at the assessment centre to the tier two standard.
	Tier Three
	The interpreter must have one or more of the following:
	Demonstrable experience in the public sector with appropriate linguistic background;
	Formalised basic interpreter training including one of the following: the WEA programmes, Bi-Lingual Skills Certificates, Community Level Interpreting Degrees under the NVQ certification system.
	Together with:
	References; and
	A pass at the assessment centre to the tier three standard.
	It is also desirable for tier three interpreters to have at least 100 hours public sector interpreting experience.
	Rare languages
	In the case of rare languages where the DPSI or equivalent qualification is not available, the interpreter must have the Cambridge Proficiency in English Certificate, 100 hours of public sector interpreting experience, evidence of continuous professional development, references and a pass at the assessment centre.

Translation Services

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he was advised by (a) Applied Language Solutions (ALS) and (b) counsel to ALS not to launch the new interpreters' framework agreement across the whole country at one time.

Crispin Blunt: We considered a range of implementation options in our discussions with Applied Language Solutions. ALS confirmed that they could deliver the services required through national implementation following a successful trial in the North West. We have not been party to any discussions with counsel to ALS.

Translation Services

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library copies of information collated from Crown Courts in London on a weekly basis on problems with the implementation of the Applied Languages Solutions contract.

Jonathan Djanogly: We are aware that some courts may be gathering information to use as local management tools. Any such information is not being collated centrally. The Ministry will consider what information it can usefully publish in due course.

TRANSPORT

A453

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when her Department plans to publish the timetable to widen the A453 between Nottingham and the M1.

Michael Penning: The Highways Agency is working up detailed timescales for schemes announced in the Chancellor's autumn statement on 29 November 2011, Official  Report, columns 799-810, to identify the most efficient start of work dates. All of the schemes named in the autumn statement are expected to start construction and make significant progress in the next three years.
	We will make announcements on the timescales for each scheme in due course.

Action for Employment

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what contracts her Department has with A4e; and what the (a) purpose and (b) value is of each such contract.

Norman Baker: To the best of my knowledge, the Department for Transport has no outstanding contracts with A4e.

Bus Services: Concessions

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she has any plans to extend the provision of bus passes to enable free passage of pensioners and disabled persons between England and Wales.

Norman Baker: There are no current plans to introduce mutual recognition of concessionary bus passes between England and Wales. Concessionary travel is a devolved policy area so the arrangements differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is however perfectly possible for local authorities to put in place arrangements for mutual recognition of schemes across borders.

Crossrail: Contracts

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total value is of Crossrail contracts awarded to companies with head offices based outside the UK, including joint ventures between domestic and international companies.

Theresa Villiers: Crossrail Ltd has awarded approximately £1.4 billion of work to construction companies that do not have a UK-based headquarters, including joint ventures where at least one company has a headquarters outside of the UK. This is out of a total value of awarded contracts of approximately £4 billion to date.
	The vast majority of these contractors will sub-contract with UK-based companies, and Crossrail Ltd currently estimate that around 90% to 95% of the total Crossrail works awarded by value will be undertaken in the UK supply chain.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Disclosure of Information

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what conditions private parking enforcement companies have to comply with to be able to access DVLA information systems;
	(2)  whether those who access DVLA information systems must be members of the British Parking Association; and what conditions apply to such access.

Michael Penning: No organisation has direct access to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) information systems. Information to help contact the registered keepers of vehicles can be released to private car parking management companies provided they demonstrate reasonable cause for requiring the information. Requests are received via both paper based and electronic routes.
	All private parking management companies requesting this information must be members of the British Parking Association (BPA). The BPA's Approved Operator Scheme requires that all members must adhere to a code of practice stipulating the standards of operation required. Failure to adhere to the code may result in expulsion from the scheme meaning that no further information will be provided by the DVLA.
	Parking management companies are audited by both BPA and DVLA to ensure that they are meeting the standards required.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had with rail companies on High Speed 2 trains serving stations on High Speed 1.

Justine Greening: The HS2 Decisions and Next Steps document makes clear that the Government will explore options for HS2 trains to serve Stratford, Ebsfleet and other stations on HS1 going forward.

Motorways: Speed Limits

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has to introduce a speed limit on motorways of 80 mph.

Michael Penning: We have announced our intention to consult on proposals to increase the speed limit on motorways to 80 miles per hour. As part of this process we are carrying out further work to assess the potential economic, safety and environmental impacts of implementing this change. We plan to bring forward detailed proposals and start consultation in the coming months.

Oil: EU Action

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on the inclusion of a default value for oil shale in the European fuel quality directive; and what her policy is on the European Commission's proposal for a greenhouse gas emissions value for oil shale.

Norman Baker: On 23 February member states voted on a European Commission proposal for the implementing measures of article 7a of the fuel quality directive.
	The proposal voted on included default values for petrol and diesel derived from oil shale. At the vote a ‘no opinion’ result was delivered under the weighted voting procedure known as Qualified Majority Voting. The proposal will now proceed for consideration by the Environment Council.
	The Government are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and want the fuel quality directive to be a key tool in achieving this aim. We are therefore continuing to seek an effective solution to address the carbon emissions from all highly polluting crudes, including oil shale.

Transport: Industrial Disputes

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what her policy is on the use of (a) recruitment companies, (b) subsidiaries and (c) in-house recruitment processes to provide labour during periods of industrial action in the transport sector. [R]

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport does not have a specific policy on the use of recruitment companies, subsidiaries or in-house recruitment processes to provide labour during periods of industrial action in the transport sector, but would expect transport businesses to comply with the law, in particular with the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 which prohibit employment businesses from knowingly supplying replacement workers in an official industrial dispute.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Big Ben: Tourism

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, 
	(1)  what assessment the House of Commons Commission has made of the likely number of persons booking tours of the Clock Tower following the introduction of charges; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  who will administer the charges to visit the Clock Tower; and if he will make a statement.

John Thurso: There is an annual capacity of around 10,400 spaces on Clock Tower tours. During the 2011 calendar year 9,319 visitors participated in the tours. Given the popularity of Clock Tower tours, we do not expect any significant fall in demand. The ticket price has been set to cover the cost of the tours' operation, taking into account VAT and assuming a take-up rate of 90%.
	The Visitor Services team will administer the charges to visit the Clock Tower.

Big Ben: Tourism

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, what representations the House of Commons Commission has received (a) supporting and (b) opposing the introduction of visitor charges for visiting the Clock Tower; and if he will make a statement.

John Thurso: Since announcing the charge in an e-mail to Members and their staff on 24 February 2012, three e-mails expressing concern regarding the charge for Clock Tower Tours have been received by the Central Communications Team in the Office of the chief executive. None have been received directly by the Commission. An Early Day Motion opposing the introduction of charges has been tabled, and has been signed by 23 hon. Members (as at 7 March).

Big Ben: Tourism

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, who the House of Commons Commission consulted before taking the decision to introduce charges for visiting the Clock Tower; on what basis the amount charged was decided; and if he will make a statement.

John Thurso: The proposal to charge for visiting the Clock Tower was included in the package of proposed initial savings, on which Members, Members' staff and House staff were consulted in November 2010. Members were sent a letter from the Chair of the Finance and Services Committee inviting comments on the proposals. The Chair's message and the consultation document were published on the intranet.
	Once the House of Commons Commission had considered the proposals following consultation, Mr Speaker sent a message to all Members on 14 December 2010 announcing the agreed savings package. Mr Speaker's message and the agreed savings package can be found on the intranet. The package of agreed savings was also published on Parliament's website:
	http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commonscommission/Commons_Management_Board/HoC_agreed_savings.pdf
	Following agreement that the cost of Clock Tower tours should be covered through the introduction of charging as part of the savings programme, Visitor Services managers calculated the appropriate charge. The ticket price of £15 has been set to cover the cost of the tours operation, taking into account VAT and assuming a take-up rate of 90%. The ticket price and administrative arrangements, were reported to the Administration Committee on 30 January 2012. The £15 ticket price is in line with other commercial tours at Parliament—tours of the Visitor Route and the specialist art and architecture tours—details of which can be found on Parliament’s website:
	http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/

Catering

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission how many bookings were made by (a) hon. Members, (b) staff of hon. Members and (c) other pass holders for the Strangers Dining Room in each of the last six months for which information is available.

John Thurso: Bookings in the dining rooms are identified in two categories only: (a) hon. Members and (b) other pass holders. Bookings for the Strangers' Dining Room in each of the last six months by each of these categories of users were as follows:
	
		
			  MPs Other pass holders 
			 2011   
			 September 256 8 
			 October 382 36 
			 November 375 40 
			 December 285 18 
			    
			 2012   
			 January 282 16 
			 February 246 14

Catering

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many bookings were made at the (a) Strangers Dining Room, (b) Churchill Room and (c) Members' Dining Room in each month in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2008, (iv) 2010 and (v) the most recent month in 2012; and if he will make a statement.

John Thurso: In accordance with the House of Commons Records Management Policy, information is held for a period of three years and therefore no bookings information is available for (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, or (iii) 2008. Information for (iv) 2010 is as follows:
	
		
			 2010 Strangers' Dining Room Churchill Dining Room 
			 January 403 128 
			 February 430 143 
			 March 503 252 
			 April 86 42 
			 May 209 42 
			 June 388 153 
			 July 329 274 
			 August (1)— (1)— 
			 September 197 (1)— 
			 October 402 173 
			 November 477 267 
			 December 638 147 
			 (1) Closed. 
		
	
	(v) The most recent month in 2012 for which information is available is February. During that month, a total of 260 bookings were made for the Strangers' Dining room and 110 for the Churchill Room.
	The hon. Gentleman might find it helpful to speak directly to the Director of Catering and Retail Services on these detailed matters.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Coastal Communities Fund

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total spending of the Coastal Communities Fund is to date; what the average size of grant is; whether funding is available for both infrastructure projects and for the running costs of existing projects; and what assistance his Department offers to smaller groups seeking funding.

Grant Shapps: £23.7 million has been allocated to the UK-wide Coastal Communities Fund in 2012-13, but there has been no expenditure to date as funding only becomes available on 1 April. Funds can be made available for infrastructure and running costs. The new fund is being delivered in partnership with the Big Lottery Fund (BIG), who will be holding a series of pre-application workshops to assist organisations, including smaller groups, who may wish to apply for a grant. There is also a BIG advice line—0845 410 20 30.

Fire Services: Emergency Calls

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) genuine and (b) malicious emergency calls were received by Kent Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last three years.

Bob Neill: This information is held centrally only for periods up to 2009-10. Following the consultation on fire and rescue service non-financial annual returns, a summary of which can be found at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/frsandfosisummaryofresponses
	fire and rescue services are no longer asked to provide returns of numbers of emergency calls.
	The data available on the number of malicious false alarm calls and all other emergency calls to Kent Fire and Rescue Service for the last three years are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Total emergency calls and malicious false alarms calls, Kent Fire and Rescue Service, 2008-09 to 2010-11 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 (1) 
			 Malicious false alarms calls 852 766 n/a 
			 Other emergency calls 36,608 33,430 n/a 
			 Total emergency calls 37,460 34,196 n/a 
			 (1) Data held centrally only until 2009-10

First Time Buyers

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the number of privately rented properties on access to the property market for first-time buyers.

Andrew Stunell: I am assuming that the hon. Member wishes to know what impact the size of the privately rented sector has on access to the property market for first-time buyers.
	Access to the housing market for first-time buyers is largely dependent on access to mortgage finance. The most recent data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows that, in 2011, buy to let mortgages accounted for 12% of all loans for house purchase. The equivalent figure for first-time buyers is 34%. In terms of value, buy to let mortgages only accounted for 8% of total lending for house purchase.
	At the same time private renting provides a vital safety net for those who cannot access home ownership, as well as a flexible option for those who choose to rent. It also underpins economic development by allowing those who cannot sell their existing home the flexibility to move to take up employment opportunities.

Homelessness: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) the London borough of Bexley and (b) London who were deemed (i) intentionally and (ii) unintentionally homeless in each of the last five years.

Grant Shapps: The available information is given in the following table. The Department collects information from local authorities on whether or not a household is intentionally homeless only in those cases where it has decided that the household is homeless and in priority need. The Department does not therefore hold information on how many of the households that were decided to be homeless but not in priority need were intentionally homeless.
	
		
			 Number of households 
			  Eligible, unintentionally homeless and in priority need Eligible, homeless and in priority need, but intentionally so Eligible, homeless but not in priority need Eligible, but not homeless Total decisions 
			 London Borough of Bexley      
			 2006-07 251 19 473 107 850 
			 2007-08 207 26 261 85 579 
			 2008-09 177 27 130 89 423 
			 2009-10 128 7 48 78 261 
			 2010-11 204 37 56 222 519 
			       
			 All London boroughs and the City of London      
			 2006-07 15,390 1,780 6,740 9,550 33,450 
			 2007-08 13,800 1,610 4,890 8,710 29,000 
			 2008-09 12,780 1,930 3,520 9,060 27,290 
			 2009-10 9,460 1,680 3,910 8,100 23,150 
			 2010-11 10,180 1,760 4,450 8,920 25,310 
			 Source: Quarterly PIE returns

Housing Benefit

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department has allocated for the redundancy costs associated with a reduction of housing benefit staff in local authorities upon implementation of universal credit.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
	The Department for Work and Pensions is working with the Department for Communities and Local Government, the devolved Administrations and the local authority associations to understand the impact on cost and associated resource of the introduction of universal credit and housing costs for pensioners on current local authority benefit services.
	We are working together to develop and understand the service design and migration process, a detailed migration schedule and the impact of universal credit in the context of the wider welfare reform. Only then will we be able to assess the implications for local authority resource and associated costs.

Housing Improvement: Finance

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities in England provide renovation grants for owner-occupiers and private tenants.

Andrew Stunell: This information is not held centrally.
	The Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 gives local authorities wide powers to provide assistance for repairs, improvements, adaptations and to demolish and re-construct homes. This assistance may take the form of a grant, loan, equity release, or more practical assistance such as home surveys or small repairs services. Local authorities must have policies in place setting out how they will use these powers and they must make summaries of their policy available.

Housing: Construction

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the number of houses for which planning permission has been obtained but which have not yet been built in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire.

Bob Neill: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The number of dwellings where permission has been granted but where development has not yet started as at 31 December 2011 is estimated at 229,177 units for England. A breakdown by local authority for Gloucestershire (including the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire) is given in the following table:
	
		
			  Units with planning permission which had not started on site 
			 Cheltenham 392 
			 Cotswold 389 
			 Forest of Dean 367 
			 Gloucester 766 
			 South Gloucestershire 142 
			 Stroud 611 
			 Tewkesbury 912 
			   
			 Gloucestershire 3,579 
		
	
	This information is collected by Glenigan on behalf of the Homes and Communities Agency. Glenigan only track “large” schemes which are defined as those with 10 or more units (although some schemes with fewer than 10 units are included which have sufficient value to be classified as “large”).
	The Government are taking a number of steps to help unlock development on sites with planning permission:
	The £420 million Get Britain Building Fund will help get builders back on stalled housing sites with planning permission that have been shut down because of difficulties in accessing development finance;
	We are proposing to allow reconsideration of planning obligations agreed prior to April 2010 where development is stalled. We have already encouraged local authorities to be flexible in reviewing Section 106 agreements;
	The £500 million Growing Places Fund will support infrastructure that unblocks housing and economic growth; and
	The NewBuy Guarantee scheme brings lenders, builders and Government together to offer mortgages on new-build properties with a fraction of the deposit currently required, which in turn will encourage house builders to build more homes.

Land: Planning Permission

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the status will be of (a) Rural Buffer Zones, (b) Areas of Great Landscape Value, (c) Areas of Special Landscape, (d) Areas of Special County Value, (e) Land of Local Landscape Importance, (f) Green Wedges and (g) other local landscape designations following proposed reforms to planning.

Bob Neill: The National Planning Policy Framework, which we are committed to publishing by the end of March, will set out our policies for the planning system. The draft framework we published for consultation in 2011 underlined the importance of local planning in protecting and enhancing the natural environment, including landscapes, and identifying land which it is genuinely important to protect from development. Local planning policy designations in a local plan will continue to be a material consideration, and our proposed reforms will mean that local plans have a more important role in the planning process.

Land: Planning Permission

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the area of English land not covered by nationally-recognised land designations.

Bob Neill: The Department has not commissioned research on the area of land not covered by national-recognised land designations.
	This information can be derived from publicly available data, for example digital maps of the various national-land designations are available from the Department for Farming and Rural Affair mapping website:
	http://magic.defra.gov.uk/

Land: Sales

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation governing the sale of land by (a) individuals, (b) private companies and (c) statutory or public authorities and the role of local authorities to (i) block and (ii) take pre-emptive action against decisions which are not in the local interest.

Andrew Stunell: The Localism Act 2011 increases the powers of local authorities to tackle unauthorised development and the abuse of retrospective planning permission.
	The Act also introduces new community rights which will give local residents greater opportunities to influence development in their areas, bid to buy local assets that are important to them and bid to run local services differently and better.
	In relation to guidance to local authorities on the sale of properties, I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 2 February 2012, Official Report, column 731W.
	As the impact assessment made clear, a review of the Localism Act's provision will be conducted in the normal way.

Local Government: Calderdale

Linda Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  whether he plans to merge Calderdale and Kirklees councils;
	(2)  what plans he has to re-draw the boundaries of Calderdale council.

Bob Neill: We have no plans to impose local government restructuring, as evident from this Government's implementation of the Local Government Act 2010 which cancelled the last Administration's unitary restructuring. Such restructuring would be expensive, diverting time and resources away from improving frontline services.
	However, there is considerable scope for greater joint working and sharing of staff and back office services between local authorities. Such innovation does not need the permission of central Government, especially given the new general power of competence under the Localism Act 2011.
	Changes to boundaries are initially a matter for the independent Local Government Boundary Commission. Their guidance is available at:
	www.lgbce.org.uk/guidance-policy-and-publications/guidance

Local Government: Complaints

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of complaints submitted to local authority standards committees in 2011; and whether he has made any assessment of the number of such complaints that were upheld.

Bob Neill: We have made no such estimates.

Local Government: North East

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to devolve power to cities and towns in the North East.

Greg Clark: The Government are taking considerable steps to devolve power to cities and towns both in the North East and across the country.
	We have introduced the Localism Act giving councils the general power of competence that enables councils to do anything that an individual might, apart from that which is specifically prohibited.
	We are committed to devolving powers to elected mayors, to ensure that our biggest cities are genuine drivers of economic growth, for the benefit of both the city and the surrounding area. In May, we will see referendums on elected mayors in 10 of our largest cities including Newcastle. However, the option to have an elected mayor is not restricted to cities; councils can resolve to move to the mayoral model or hold a mayoral referendum in their area.
	We are also working to deliver a series of 'city deals'. We have invited the core cities and their wider economic areas to negotiate the devolution of the specific powers, resources and responsibilities required to meet locally-determined economic and social objectives. In return, cities will need to accept a proportionate degree of risk and demonstrate a strong governance structure.

Local Government: Pay

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has issued guidance to local authorities on the payment of senior local government staff other than through PAYE for tax advantage reasons.

Bob Neill: holding answer 9 February 2012
	I refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 63WS. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has also written to the Local Government Association asking them to consider how they can encourage the sector to take action on tackling tax avoidance.

Local Government: Pay

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether any senior staff in local government have made tax efficient payment arrangements.

Bob Neill: holding answer 20 February 2012
	I refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 20 February 2012, Official Report, 63WS.

Planning Permission

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to transfer further planning powers from regional and national level to local councils.

Bob Neill: Decentralising planning powers is a key element of the Government's planning reforms. The Localism Act has removed the regional planning tier which will prevent the creation of new regional strategies and the top down targets they imposed on local councils and communities. The Government also intend to abolish the existing regional strategies outside London subject to the outcome of environmental assessments that we are currently undertaking.
	Our reforms will enable local councils to take the lead in planning for growth and development in their areas, working closely with local communities. We are helping councils by providing them with more control and flexibility when they are preparing local plans.
	The Government have also introduced radical new powers to enable local communities to establish neighbourhood plans. These plans give citizens the right to shape the development and growth of their local area and identify where development should occur. Once these plans come into force, they will form part of the local plan which is the basis on which planning applications are determined.

Planning Permission: Incinerators

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many planning appeals in respect of incinerators were considered by the Planning Inspectorate in each planning category in each of the last five years; and what proportion of such appeals in each category were (a) upheld and (b) dismissed.

Bob Neill: The following table shows the number of planning appeals in respect of incinerators in each category allowed and upheld for each of the last five complete calendar years.
	
		
			 Decision year Procedure Allowed Upheld Total 
			 2007 Written representation — — — 
			  Hearing — — — 
			  Local inquiry — — — 
			      
			 2008 Written representation — — — 
			  Hearing — — — 
			  Local inquiry — — — 
			      
			 2009 Written representation — 1 1 
			  Hearing — — — 
			  Local inquiry 1 — 1 
		
	
	
		
			      
			 2010 Written representation — — — 
			  Hearing — — — 
			  Local inquiry — — — 
			      
			 2011 Written representation — — — 
			  Hearing — — — 
			  Local inquiry 4 1 5 
			      
			  Grand total 5 2 7

Urban Areas: Planning Permission

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many retail developments proposed for out-of-town locations have been (a) notified to and (b) called in by him in each year since 2008; what each such development was; and what the outcome of the planning process was in each case.

Bob Neill: On the basis of available records, no retail developments proposed for out-of-town locations have been notified to and called in by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government since 2008.

Urban Areas: Regeneration

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to disseminate best practice learned from urban regeneration at the Olympic Park.

Grant Shapps: The Olympic Delivery Authority Learning Legacy project is disseminating how the development of the Olympic Park has set a new direction for the way major regeneration projects can be delivered in the UK and internationally.
	The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors commissioned external research into the regeneration legacy and the impact of the 2012 Games in September 2011. It found that the London 2012 project had secured a positive physical regeneration legacy through the early onset of legacy planning and unequivocal support from UK Government and by involving a wide range of different stakeholders.

Waste Management

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which councils that currently collect refuse in alternate weeks have made a commitment to return to a weekly collection service.

Bob Neill: holding answer 5 March 2012
	We launched the Weekly Collection Support Scheme on 3 February; the deadline for expressions of interest is 16 March.
	I also strongly encourage councils to not ignore the opportunity this scheme offers to help reinstate better weekly collections while helping to drive down costs and boost environmental performance.

NORTHERN IRELAND

High Profile Anniversaries

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the commemoration of high profile anniversaries.

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the commemoration of high profile anniversaries.

Hugo Swire: Both the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), and I regularly meet with the First Minister, deputy First Minister and other Executive Ministers to discuss relevant issues including the forthcoming decade of key anniversaries.

Corporation Tax

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on differential levels of corporation tax for different regions in the UK.

Owen Paterson: I have had several discussions on this matter with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne). The Ministerial Working Group meets again this afternoon and is considering the practicalities and implications of the potential devolution of powers to vary the corporation tax rate to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Eurozone

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effect of economic conditions in the eurozone on Northern Ireland.

Hugo Swire: The eurozone is our largest trading partner and 5.8% of UK exports in goods and services go to the Republic of Ireland. I am in regular contact with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), who is closely monitoring the conditions in the eurozone and its effect on the UK economy.

Security

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave today to the hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire (Pauline Latham).

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Droughts

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to protect the farming industry against future droughts.

Richard Benyon: We are ensuring close working between farmers and the Environment Agency to make sure all available water for abstractors this growing season is used as efficiently as possible. We announced in the water White Paper that we will introduce a reformed water abstraction regime resilient to the challenges of climate change and population growth, and this will help farmers and other abstractors to meet their water needs efficiently and protect water ecosystems. We will work closely with stakeholders in designing the new system and will establish a national advisory group to guide the process. We plan to consult on proposals in 2013, and aim to introduce legislation to reform the regime early in the next Parliament.
	Assistance for farmers to build winter storage reservoirs is available through DEFRA's Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The RDPE has also supported training/knowledge transfer regarding irrigation management and soil management, as well as a range of small water resource projects, for instance with rainwater harvesting equipment.

Broadband: Finance

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much of the £20 million fund for superfast broadband has been distributed to date; and which communities have received funding.

Richard Benyon: The first round for Expressions of Interest under the Rural Community Broadband Fund closed on 31 January. 39 Expressions of Interest applications were received, with a value equivalent to around £12 million in grant.
	No funding has been distributed to date. Formal assessment of the Expressions of Interest received is currently under way. It is expected that the outcome of this assessment process will be notified to applicants during March 2012.
	For those Expressions of Interests that are endorsed to proceed to the next stage, the selected applicants will be asked to submit a full application providing the detail of the project (including a business plan). No funding will be committed to a project until a full application has been received, appraised, and approved.

Droughts: Subsidence

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the drought on (a) subsidence in buildings and (b) highways; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The potential effects of drought on buildings and highways fall within the competency of a number of Government bodies.
	For building work the building regulations require that the structural safety of buildings shall not be affected by any movements caused by swelling, shrinkage or freezing of the ground. Supporting statutory guidance gives practical advice on meeting this requirement by providing minimum founding depths for common foundation types. This includes foundations constructed in ground prone to volume change as a consequence of seasonal climatic conditions and also drought. The regulations are subject to ongoing review.
	While the Government recognise that drought can affect road surfaces as a result of the lack of moisture in the soil (particularly in peat soil), causing the soil beneath the road to shrink, it is for highway authorities to ensure that they undertake scheduled maintenance to manage the problems that drought may cause to the road network for which they are responsible.
	Despite the current severe fiscal restraints we are providing £3 billion (to 2014-15) to councils for road maintenance and also provided an additional £200 million last year for authorities to repair damage caused by severe weather. It is for authorities to decide how to allocate these funds, including ensuring they have a contingency to deal with any emerging maintenance issues, such as drought, that may arise.
	In 2008 the Department for Transport published a guidance document in order to help local authority highway engineers assess the risk from climate change to their network and take suitable adaptation actions. The guidance is available from The Stationery Office.

Fish: Marketing

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate her Department has made of the number of supermarket fish products marketed as (a) dolphin friendly, (b) pole and line caught and (c) sustainably sourced in each of the last five years.

Richard Benyon: We use figures from the Ethical Consumerism Report by the Co-operative Bank. The data are based on administrative records held by ethical labelling organisations and trade associations. The last five years on record are estimated as follows:
	
		
			 Spend (£ million) 
			  Sustainable Fish Dolphin Friendly Tuna 
			 2005 17 218 
			 2006 55 223 
			 2007 70 237 
			 2008 128 281 
			 2009 178 (1)— 
			 (1) The spend on dolphin friendly tuna is not available for 2009. Source: Ethical Consumerism Reports (ECR). The Co-operative Bank http://www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/ethicalconsumerismreport 
		
	
	DEFRA does not hold figures or estimates of pole and line caught supermarket fish products.

Pet Animals Act 1951

Jane Ellison: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to amend section 2 of the Pet Animals Act 1951 to include (a) public houses and (b) websites.

James Paice: There are no plans to amend the Pet Animals Act 1951.

River Thames: Sewage

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with (a) Thames Water, (b) the Environment Agency and (c) Ofwat on the volume of spoil to be removed and the means of its removal for the construction of the Thames tunnel.

Richard Benyon: Thames Water has estimated that around 4.6 million tonnes of excavated material would be generated during construction of the proposed Thames tunnel. The eventual contractor will be responsible for the management and handling of the excavated material, and also for ensuring appropriate re-use, treatment, and/or disposal of the material. This is in line with an overarching waste strategy which I understand Thames Water is currently finalising in conjunction with the Environment Agency. I also understand that Thames Water is undertaking a detailed assessment, following waste hierarchy principles, to identify the preferred options for the management of the excavated material. This includes removal from riverside construction sites by barge, where it is practical and economic to do so, in line with Government planning policy guidance.
	The Environment Agency has been working with Thames Water's Thames tunnel team to produce the draft waste strategy, which is available on Thames Water's Thames tunnel consultation website.
	The Excavated Materials Options Methodology and Assessment will be available in due course as part of the Development Consent Order application process.

Tyres: Exports

Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many illegally exported containers of used tyres the Environment Agency recovered in the last 12 months; and how much such recovery cost.

Richard Benyon: During the calendar year of 2011 the Environment Agency reports that no illegally exported containers of used tyres were repatriated.
	During the same period, six containers of waste tyres destined for export were intercepted and held. They were granted permission to proceed only after the Malaysian authorities confirmed they were content. Therefore, they were no recovery costs.

Water: Olympic Games 2012

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the extra water requirement during the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics; and what steps it has taken to ensure that supply meets demand during the period of the games.

Richard Benyon: Thames Water has worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to assess water demands during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Based on modelling and experience from previous Olympic host cities, the ODA expect the demand in London to be no greater than a “normal” summer period. This is due to reduced demand from London residents as a result of the holiday period. Demand from the major events will take place in the late afternoon/evening when demand from commercial buildings will be reduced as many commuters will have left central London.
	The Olympics has been designed to be the most sustainable modern Olympics. The Olympic Park sports venues will use at least 40% less water than equivalent buildings through the use of water efficient appliances, rain water harvesting from roofs, and grey water systems. An innovative membrane bioreactor plant has also been installed to make use of 'black water' to supply a custom non-potable distribution system on the Olympic site.
	Thames Water, the water supplier to the main Olympics Park, has indicated that if the region does not receive above average rainfall in the near future it may have to impose restrictions on water usage this summer in line with its drought plan. It does not anticipate that this will affect essential Olympic activities, and it will be working with London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to minimise non-essential water use. Thames Water and the relevant Government Departments hold regular discussions on this issue.
	Other water companies who supply Olympic venues in areas affected by the risk of drought are taking actions in line with their drought plans. As yet there is no indication that this will affect essential Olympic activities.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts: Asians

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what funds were provided to Asian organisations through the (a) regularly funded organisations system and (b) Grants for the Arts from the Arts Lottery awards programme in each year since 2002.

Edward Vaizey: Departmental support for the arts is channelled through Arts Council England (ACE) which makes funding decisions independently of Government. ACE provided the following table that outlines funding provided to Asian-led organisations since 2002 through the Grants for the Arts (GFTAs) funding programme, and funding allocated to regularly funded organisations (RFOs).
	For RFOs, an Asian-led organisation is taken to be an organisation in which more than 50% of their board and senior managements are from Asian or Chinese background. For GFTAs, an Asian-led organisation has been defined in the same way, as well as individual applicants from an Asian or Chinese background.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Financial year CFTAs RFOs Total 
			 2002-03 n/a 2,478,455 2,478,455 
			 2003-04 n/a 799,665 799,665 
			 2004-05 n/a 1,395,161 1,395,161 
			 2005-06 1,706,664 951,535 2,658,199 
		
	
	
		
			 2006-07 1,778,613 1,745,025 3,523,638 
			 2007-08 1,474,581 912,605 2,387,186 
			 2008-09 1,260,329 1,747,415 3,007,744 
			 2009-10 1,664,455 768,169 2,432,624 
			 2010-11 n/a 1,506,739 1,506,739 
			 Totals 7,884,642 12,304,769 20,189,411

Diamond Jubilee 2012: Medals

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport for what reasons his Department decided not to award the diamond jubilee medal to members of St John's Ambulance; what representations his Department has received on this matter; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: The diamond jubilee medal is being issued using broadly the same criteria as the golden jubilee medal in 2002. Medals are therefore being awarded to serving members of key front line services (armed forces, the police, the Prison Service, ambulance service and fire and rescue services) who have completed five years' service on and inclusive of the anniversary of the Queen's accession on 6 February 2012.
	The Department has received 43 letters to date on this matter.

Sports: Young People

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent progress his Department has made in implementing youth sport strategy, Creating a sporting habit for life.

Hugh Robertson: The Department is working with Sport England on implementing the Youth Sport Strategy published in January 2012. This work includes helping national governing bodies (NGBs) to develop their plans to increase participation and retention, particularly of young people, in sport. The NGBs will formally submit their plans alongside their bids for funding, in May. Final award offers will be made in January and activity will commence in April 2013.
	Sport England is also working with the Further Education sector to identify 150 further education colleges that will benefit from a College Sport Maker, with the first grants likely to be in place by the autumn.
	An important element of the new strategy is to increase the community access to sports facilities on school premises. Sport England published new guidance for schools wishing to open their facilities on 2 March and will be making £10 million available to schools to help with process.
	Sport England is also working with the Local Government Associations and Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association to develop plans to enable local authorities, community groups and other partner to bid for matched funding to increase and sustain participation in sport. It expects to test how best to invest during the final quarter 2012-13.

DEFENCE

Air Training Corps

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 462W, on Air Training Corps, what the conclusion was of the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of the senior management structure of the Air Training Corps which was carried out in January 2011.

Nick Harvey: The Air Cadet Organisation review of its senior management structure, which began in January 2011, has been suspended until the Tri-Service Defence Youth Engagement Review has been completed.

Departmental Disclosure of Information

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 421W, on the disclosure of information, if he will publish any interim findings of the inquiry into the unauthorised disclosure of the letter between the former Secretary of State and the Prime Minister which appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 28 September 2010.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The person responsible for the leak has not been identified. The investigation remains open.

Future Local Area Air Defence System

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress he has made on the future local area air defence system; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: In January, the Ministry of Defence placed a contract valued at some £483 million with MBDA(UK) for the development of the maritime Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS(M)), to be known by its new name ‘Sea Ceptor’, a future cutting-edge air-defence system which will replace Sea Wolf on the Royal Navy's T-23 frigates until the end of their service life, and is planned to provide the basis of the air defence capability for the T-26 frigates when they enter service.
	Sea Ceptor's parent programme FLAADS is an important part of the complex weapons portfolio, which is delivering the optimal balance of capability and value for money for the armed forces, meeting their requirement for battle winning complex weapons. This is being achieved through the development of a family of weapons which will provide greater overall flexibility to meet evolving requirements, enable shorter development times; and achieve significant efficiencies through life. It will also ensure the UK has continued access to industrial skills and capabilities that are critical for the sustained provision of complex weapons for our armed forces. The Sea Ceptor demonstration phase is expected to take five years and will sustain some 500 high technology jobs in MBDA UK and its supply chain, in key locations across the UK including Stevenage, Filton and Lostock. This announcement represents further significant investment in the UK's high technology industry and supports wider Government policy towards increasing UK defence exports as Sea Ceptor is assessed to have excellent export potential.

Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability Programme

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the first Military Afloat reach and sustainability tanker to begin construction; and when the final such tanker will be delivered.

Peter Luff: Subject to contract award, construction of the first Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) tanker is planned to begin in mid-2014. On current plans, the final MARS tanker is scheduled to be delivered into service in 2019.

MOD Bicester

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  which (a) consultants and (b) consultancy firms were involved in the 2008 restructuring of MOD Logistics Bicester;
	(2)  which consultants he employed to assist with the restructuring of MOD Logistics Bicester in 2008; and what the daily rate was of each such consultant;
	(3)  how much his Department has paid to interim directors of logistics in (a) Bicester and (b) Donnington in each year since 2008;
	(4)  how much his Department paid to consultants for MOD Logistics in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08, (c) 2008-09 and (d) 2009-10.

Peter Luff: holding answer 29 February 2012
	The restructuring of the former Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA), of which Logistic Services Bicester was a part, was considered under the Future Defence Supply Chain Initiative (FDSCi) which concluded in 2007. In August 2010, DSDA relinquished its agency status and its responsibilities were absorbed into DE&S, its parent organisation.
	Consultancy assistance used to support the FDSCi was not provided on a site-by-site basis and information that can be directly attributed to Logistic Services Bicester or Logistics Services Donnington is not available. The management consultancy firms engaged in supporting FDSCi were Wallace Walker and Deloitte.
	I am withholding information about the daily rate paid to consultants employed by Wallace Walker and Deloitte as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests. Similarly, I am withholding the names of those consultants as this is personal information.
	The total cost of consultancy assistance provided to the former DSDA in financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 was £3.67 million and £0.20 million respectively (the former was attributed to FDSCi). No such costs were incurred in financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10.
	The cost of interim directors employed by the former DSDA, and after August 2010, by logistic services DE&S, are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Financial year Cost (£) 
			 2008-09 489,000 
			 2009-10 263,000 
		
	
	
		
			 2010-11 209,000

USA: Military Alliances

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effects of the measures announced in the recent defence review by the US on the UK's future military co-operation with that country.

Philip Hammond: The US Defense Strategic Guidance, reaches many of the same conclusions as the UK's 2010 strategic defence and security review. While the Defense Strategic Guidance signals a change in some US priorities, it underlines that European allies will remain the US' partners of choice. The US will continue to be our most important military ally and we will develop the interoperability and expertise necessary to ensure that our armed forces are able to work with their US counterparts, both bilaterally and in NATO.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Departmental Responsibilities

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) private sector and business and (b) third sector and non-governmental organisation expertise among officials in his Department.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has launched an outreach programme designed to encourage staff members to spend 1-2 days a year with other organisations. These organisations can include businesses, universities, further education colleges, charities and third sector organisations and social enterprises to learn about how they operate and the challenges they face. So far 440 staff members (17% of the Department) have undertaken visits, with 95% saying the visits were a good use of their time and helped them do their jobs more effectively. In addition those officials working on Enterprise spend a week in a small business each year.
	The Department also participated in the National Council for Voluntary Organisations' 'A Day in the Life...' scheme which provided a unique opportunity for 100 BIS staff and voluntary and community sector organisations to step into each others shoes for a day and learn about how each operates.

Departmental Secondment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his Department's policy is on (a) inward and (b) outward secondments to the (i) private sector and (ii) third sector and non-governmental organisations.

Norman Lamb: It is the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills' policy to encourage exchanges by way of (a) inward and (b) outward secondments between the (i) private sector and (ii) third sector and non-governmental organisations and the Department.
	Inward secondments enable the Department to improve staffs' capabilities by learning and by sharing knowledge and expertise with private sector, third sector and non governmental organisations. The individual on secondment gets a development opportunity to broaden their understanding of how Government works. Outward secondments are similarly beneficial in terms of exchanging information and providing increased staff development opportunities, while supporting individuals to achieve their career aspirations.

Financial Services: Conveyancing

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to ensure that shared equity schemes subsidised by the taxpayer cannot be operated by banks or financial services firms that operate restricted panels of conveyancers.

Mark Hoban: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	The Government are aware that several banks have recently made changes to the membership of their conveyancing panels.
	Commercial decisions remain a matter for the boards of banks and building societies, and the Government do not seek to intervene in these decisions.

Foreign Investment in UK

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) regional inward investment organisations or (b) local enterprise partnerships have signed memorandums of understanding with UK Trade and Investment to enable them to access international inward investment opportunities.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 6 March 2012
	The information requested is as follows.
	(a) The nine regional development agencies gave up their inward investment responsibilities at the end of March 2011 as part of their forthcoming closure following abolition. The devolved Administrations have all signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI).
	(b) UKTI now works at the local level through the 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and, where appropriate, their respective investment agency. 37 of the LEPs have signed an MoU with UKTI. UKTI is in negotiation with the Greater London authority to sign an MoU on inward investment co-operation.

Foreign Investment in UK

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) regional inward investment agencies or (b) local enterprise partnerships who have signed a memorandum of understanding have completed the National School of Government e-Learning course.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 6 March 2012
	40 people so far (out of 104 applications) have completed the National School of Government e-learning course.

Higher Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what factors he takes into account when designating a higher education course.

David Willetts: The criteria for designation are set out in the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 and include course type, duration and mode of study. Courses must also be validated by a recognised UK awarding body such as a university. This provides quality assurance.
	Where private providers are applying for specific designation of a course for the first time BIS undertakes due diligence checks. These checks include consideration of management and governance, financial stability and longevity of an organisation. If the Department is satisfied that the course meets the course eligibility criteria; and that the provider does not pose a risk to the use of public funds; the course is specifically designated.

Industry: Water

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make it his policy to encourage water using industries to relocate to English regions where there is no water shortage.

Mark Prisk: No. Decisions on location are best made by businesses themselves, taking account of all relevant factors including water supply.

Office of Fair Access: Manpower

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many staff he expects to be employed by the Office of Fair Access in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

David Willetts: This is a matter for the Director of Fair Access. This year we have increased the budget of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) from £484,000 to over £700,000 and I understand that 11 staff are currently employed at OFFA, excluding the Director.
	The Government have committed through the White Paper to strengthen OFFA so it can provide a more active and energetic challenge and support to universities and colleges. In the White Paper, we said we will make significantly more resources available, increasing capacity up to around four times its original level, and equipping OFFA to use fully its powers to promote access and monitor and review Access Agreements.
	We are discussing OFFA's budget for 2012-13 with the current Director to ensure he has the resources he needs to discharge his responsibilities effectively. The new Director for Fair Access will take up the role later this year and we will want to discuss the issue of resources with him at the earliest opportunity.

Overseas Trade: Egypt

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what information his Department holds on export contracts with the Egyptian government under UK Export Finance that are for military use.

Norman Lamb: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 12 December 2011, Official Report, column 527W, to the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier).

South West Regional Development Agency: Pay

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether staff employed by the South West England Development Agency received retention bonuses after the announcement by the Government of the abolition of regional development agencies.

Mark Prisk: The eight regional development agencies have put in place arrangements to secure the retention of key staff until the agencies are closed. They have made these arrangements with the approval of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and HM Treasury. This is to safeguard the taxpayer's interest in the efficient and timely closure of the agencies. A retention payment process had been recommended to be put into place by the National Audit Office. At the South West Regional Development Agency to date, two staff have received retention payments on completing their duties when they were made redundant.

Trading Standards

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the number of problems for consumers arising from faulty goods and services purchased within the last 12 months; what assessment he has made of the total consumer detriment arising from faulty goods and services; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: Between 1 March 2011 and 29 February 2012, 255,000 consumers contacted Consumer Direct about faulty goods and services, which represents 28% of all consumer problems reported to them. Based on the reported value of these faulty goods or services, Consumer Direct estimate the total value of the goods and services involved at around £344 million, but this value is not necessarily the same as the actual losses suffered or the detriment caused. However, it is difficult to estimate with any certainty the total number of problems arising from faulty goods and services and any consequent consumer detriment if the problems are not satisfactorily resolved because most issues do not result in any formal complaint.
	Consumer detriment is particularly difficult to define and measure. However, in 2008 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) estimated that one type of detriment—that suffered by consumers post-transaction—amounted to £6.6 billion per annum arising out of an estimated 26.5 million cases of consumer mistreatment.

University Technical Colleges

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with the Department for Education on the establishment of university teaching schools.

David Willetts: There have been no recent discussions on the establishment of university training schools.

University Technical Colleges

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what criteria his Department used to determine which universities to invite to attend meetings about establishing a university teaching school; on which dates universities that had expressed an interest were invited to attend such meetings; and which universities attended the meetings;
	(2)  which universities have registered an interest in establishing a university teaching school.

Nick Gibb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Education.
	In the White Paper: 'The Importance of Teaching', we said that we would invite higher education providers of initial teacher training to open university training schools. Officials from the Department and the Training and Development Agency have been responding to universities who have expressed an interest. The Department has not published formal criteria as yet so has not invited any universities to attend meetings. Our working assumption has been that universities will run a school, provide outstanding initial teacher training and continuing professional development and undertake research. We aim to make an announcement shortly.
	Independent of this announcement, the Institute of Education, in partnership with a group of parents, submitted an application last year. As the Free School bid had many of the features of a prospective university training school all of the parties involved agreed to develop the proposal as a pathfinder UTS and this is now progressing through the Department's Free School application process. The university of Birmingham has also registered an interest in setting up a university training school as part of their proposals submitted this year.
	Universities, which would like to discuss their plans to set up a university training school, should contact Michele Marr at the Training and Development Agency (TDA) at:
	michele.marr@tda.gov.uk

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Departmental Ethnic Minority Staff

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many and what proportion of senior civil servants in his Department were from an ethnic minority in March (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The number and proportion of senior civil servants in the Department for Energy and Climate Change are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Date Number Proportion (%) 
			 March 2010 3 4 
			 March 2011 3 3 
			 December 2011(1) 4 4 
			 (1) The data for March 2012 are not yet available but will be published in our annual accounts. The data shown are the latest available. 
		
	
	The full diversity data for our senior civil servants are published in our annual accounts, the latest of which can be viewed at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/about/our_goals/annual_reports/annual_reports.aspx

Natural Gas: Exploration

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the scientific study undertaken by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado, Boulder, on the leakage levels of methane gas from drilling for shale gas published in Nature on 9 February 2012; and what requirements there are on companies drilling for shale gas in the UK to monitor and publicly report levels of methane leakage.

Charles Hendry: The Environment Agency has commissioned a study to investigate the monitoring and control of unplanned emissions of methane from unconventional gas operations which will include a survey of the relevant literature. This study will help the agency to understand how fugitive emissions can be quantified, managed and minimised.
	DECC petroleum production licences contain provisions that require the licensee to prevent the escape of hydrocarbons, and there are controls on the venting of gas within the Energy Act 1976. DECC has also commissioned a separate piece of research which will assess how we should incorporate any methane emissions from this activity in our greenhouse gas inventory, which forms the basis for our international emissions reporting obligation under the Kyoto protocol.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the expected levels of take-up for the Green Deal in relation to households installing photovoltaics.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal may offer an attractive route to householders considering installing solar PV and wishing to improve the energy performance of their property in order to be eligible for the highest tariffs available under the feed-in tariffs scheme, but we have not quantified this.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Healthcare

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have met the chief executive officer of Atos since May 2010; and what was discussed on each occasion.

Chris Grayling: This Department has published on a quarterly basis since October 2009, details of all ministerial meetings with external organisations. The information you have requested can be found via the attached link to the Department's website:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/corporate-publications/ministers-meetings-overseas.shtml
	Information for the period 1 July 2011 to 31 December 2011 has yet to be published.

Carer's Allowance

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people ceased to receive carer's allowance due to receipt of (a) a pension and (b) another income replacement benefit in (i) England, (ii) the North West and (iii) Cumbria in each of the last five years.

Maria Miller: Information on why a person no longer receives carer's allowance is not collected.

Housing Benefit

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people's local housing allowance was paid direct to their landlord in (a) the London borough of Bexley and (b) London in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: The information is in the following table:
	
		
			 Housing benefit claimants subject to local housing allowance, November 2011 
			  London London borough of Bexley 
			 Housing benefit claimants subject to local housing allowance 218,320 4,160 
			 Of which paid to landlord 49,520 990 
			 Notes: 1. The figures refer to benefit units which may be a single person or a couple. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 3. SHBE is a monthly electronic scan of claimant level data direct from local authority computer systems. Over time this will improve the accuracy, timeliness and level, of detail available in the published statistics, as the information supplied is quality assured. Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE)

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Nick Raynsford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many older people in receipt of pension credit and payments towards housing cost, excluding housing benefit, are in receipt of a support for mortgage interest payment to meet the interest cost on loans taken out for the purpose of undertaking home improvements; and what the average weekly payment in such cases was in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: The information is not available.
	The Department's administrative data cannot reliably identify people who receive support in respect of home improvement loans, as they are often consolidated into the main mortgage loan.

Nuclear Information

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what rules have been made by the Office for Nuclear Regulation to prevent the unauthorised transmission of nuclear information; and whether he is aware of any breaches of any such rules.

Chris Grayling: It is the responsibility of all staff of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure that HSE's assets are given adequate protection, including the security of the information they use. This responsibility includes staff of the Office for Nuclear Regulation, which is an agency within HSE. Guidance to ensure staff are able to understand and adhere to HSE security policies and practices is published on HSE's intranet. The guidance is fully open under Open Government provisions.
	A breach of these policies and practices occurred in November 2011. While abroad, a member of ONR personnel lost an unencrypted USB pen driver containing safety information about a UK nuclear power station. The document was marked ‘restricted’ but did not contain any significantly sensitive information. An internal investigation was conducted and work is in hand to ensure that lessons are learnt.

Pensions

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of administering an increase in the basic state pension of 25 pence for recipients over the age of 80.

Steve Webb: The 25p increase in state pensions, the Age Addition, is currently made to recipients aged 80 or over. Payments are made automatically as part of the person's ongoing state pension entitlement. The DWP does not maintain data on the specific administrative costs of Age Addition.

Redundancy: Private Sector

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were made redundant from jobs in the private sector in each of the last three years.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2012 
	.
	The requested information is not available. Official estimates of redundancies are derived from the Labour Force Survey. However, the details required to identify how many of those redundancies are in the private sector are not collected.

Social Security Benefits

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 7 February 2012, Official Report, column 238W, on social security benefits, how many working-age households in (a) the Borough of Halton, (b) Cheshire, (c) Merseyside and (d) England were in receipt of benefits that totalled more than the proposed benefit cap under the provisions of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 excluding those households which are exempted in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: In the borough of Halton it is estimated that fewer than 100 households will be affected by the cap, when it is introduced in the financial year 2013-14. The combined total for Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, and Warrington authority areas is 300 households. The combined total for Liverpool, St. Helens, Sefton, Wirral and Knowsley authority areas is 1,000 households. The estimate for England as a whole is 61,600 households.
	The figures presented above are consistent with the recent Impact Assessment published on 23 January 2012. This assumes that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme to move as many into work as possible.
	It is important to note that these estimates were produced before the additional easements announced on 1 February which included the exemption of households who were in receipt of the support component of employment and support allowance and a nine-month grace period for claimants who were in work for 52 weeks or more before the start of their claim. This means that these figures are subject to change.

Social Security Benefits: Hyndburn

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the Hyndburn borough council area receive combined benefits at the rate of (a) £2,000, (b) £1,600 and (c) £1,000 a month which will be affected by the benefits cap proposed in the Welfare Reform Bill.

Chris Grayling: The information requested about the combined benefits that people receive is not available.
	On 23 January 2012 the Department published an updated impact assessment for the household benefit cap. This estimated that in the first year of its implementation (the financial year 2013-14), in Great Britain 67,000 households would be affected by the cap. On 6 February, the breakdown of the number of households we expect to be affected in each local authority was deposited in the House of Commons Library.
	On the basis of this impact assessment, fewer than 100 households in the Hyndburn borough council area will be affected. It is important to note that these estimates were produced before the additional easements announced on 1 February which included the exemption of households who were in receipt of the support component of employment and support allowance and a nine-month grace period for claimants who were in work for 52 weeks or more before the start of their claim.
	This means that these figures are subject to change, ahead of the Welfare Reform Bill gaining Royal Assent. We will consider the scope for further analysis of the households when we prepare the revised impact assessment following Royal Assent.
	As set out in the impact assessment, these figures are based on the assumption that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In practice, for all of these households the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme to move as many into work as possible.

Social Security Benefits: Northern Ireland

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what representations he has received from voluntary organisations in Northern Ireland over his proposed benefit reform;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive over his proposed benefit reform.

Chris Grayling: Welfare Reform will bring significant benefits to people throughout the United Kingdom including that work will always pay, targeted support for disabled people, fairness and equality, affordability and simplification.
	Northern Ireland is responsible for its own social security system. However, there is an expectation that the NI and GB systems will operate in parallel under what is termed the parity principle. Under this arrangement the same benefits are paid at the same rates subject to the same conditions and rules. To achieve this aim discussions take place regularly with the Northern Ireland Executive on all new legislation at both a ministerial and official level.
	Northern Ireland stakeholders have responded to consultation exercises on measures in the GB Bill and the Northern Ireland Executive has also carried out its own separate consultation exercises. Ministers have met with a wide range of organisations to discuss the Bill.

Universal Credit: Housing Benefit

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the number of weeks' rent arrears will be which will trigger direct payment of housing benefit on the application of a social landlord following the introduction of universal credit.

Chris Grayling: The Government are committed to supporting, working-age recipients of housing benefit make the transition to a single monthly direct payment of benefit as part of universal credit. This change is seen as key to helping people develop the financial management skills required to move with ease from benefits into work by mirroring a regular salary. Maintaining single payment is also important so that claimants can see clearly the effect of their decisions about work on total household income.
	Although most of those in the private rented sector are already used to receiving their payments directly and managing their finances accordingly, it is recognised that for others, including many in the social rented sector, the change may raise additional challenges.
	On 19 January, DWP announced five housing benefit demonstration projects which will involve selected local authorities, housing association partnerships and between 10,000 and 12,000 social housing sector housing benefit customers nationwide. One of the key aims of these projects is to look at the range and level of support that different customers will need to help them to manage their finances, including how intervention can be best targeted if they start to struggle with meeting payments.
	In exceptional circumstances, alternative payment arrangements may be needed to support them in the move to universal credit. We are working with housing associations, local authorities and claimant representative groups to determine the circumstances in which we would consider making such alternative arrangements. This work will be informed by the outcome of the demonstration projects, factoring in independent evaluation of the projects conducted by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Conflict Prevention

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures his Department plans to use to assess the effectiveness of its governance and conflict programme.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) measures the effectiveness of its governance and conflict work at both country and aggregate levels. Information on how we measure progress against our objectives is available on the DFID website. The DFID Business Plan and Results Frameworks include indicators for our governance and conflict programmes; for example, "Number of women and girls with improved access to security and justice services through DFID support".
	All DFID Country Offices have published Operational Plans which will be revised annually. Each contains a results framework setting out the high level outcomes we are seeking to achieve, including governance and conflict results. Progress is reported annually.
	Individual conflict and governance programmes set out specific results they intend to achieve through their lifetime. Effectiveness in achieving these results is regularly monitored, and assessed in a project completion report at the end of the programme.
	In addition, all DFID Country Offices are required to develop, publish and implement an evaluation strategy, in accordance with international best practice guidelines set out by the OECD. A number of Country Offices plan to have evaluations of projects in the area of governance over the next few years.

Corruption

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will place in the Library a copy of the report on UK anti-corruption policy which was recently prepared for his Department.

Alan Duncan: Copies of the report “Enhancing Action against international Corruption Annual Review 2011”, referred to in The Times newspaper on 22 February 2012, will be deposited in the House Library.

Developing Countries: Health Services

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to help pharmaceutical companies assist with the development of (a) HIV/AIDS, (b) tuberculosis, (c) malaria, (d) maternity and (e) other health programmes in developing countries.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) supported the establishment of the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) through our contributions to UNITAID. This has the potential to increase access to more appropriate and affordable anti-retrovirals in developing countries. The UK continues to encourage the pharmaceutical industry to engage actively with the MPP. The UK's contributions to UNITAID also increases access to quality-assured treatments for malaria and tuberculosis in low-income countries by using innovative, global market-based approaches to make treatment products more affordable and widely available. The UK's increased support to the United Nations Population Fund helped Bayer HealthCare Jadelle reduce the price of its five year contraceptive implant, and save thousands more women's lives. The UK works closely with a number of pharmaceutical companies that donate drugs that combat neglected tropical diseases. For example DFID and GSK jointly support the Liverpool School for Tropical Medicine's programme to control lymphatic filaria.
	DFID supports a range of product development partnerships (PDPs) that work as virtual pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tools (technologies) for developing countries. PDPs are developed by a range of different partners including large pharmaceutical companies and those in middle income countries. There is a strong track record of PDPs working with, and leveraging funding from, the private sector including pharmaceutical companies to help further their aims.
	DFID is a founding member of the Harnessing Non-State Actors for Better Health for the Poor (HANSHEP) group established in 2010. This seeks to improve the performance of the private sector (PS) in delivering better health care for the poor.

Developing Countries: HIV Infection

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he expects to achieve the target for universal access to treatment for patients with HIV/AIDS.

Stephen O'Brien: The UK is committed to scaling up HIV diagnosis, treatment, care and support, and supporting international commitments to get 15 million people on treatment by 2015. We set out our plans in an HIV position paper, ‘Towards Zero Infections’, in May 2011.
	The UK is working with the pharmaceutical industry to increase the number of people on life saving treatment to help meet unmet need, driving down costs for medicines, securing lower prices and better value for money. Work with the Clinton Health Access Initiative to lower the price of the drug tenofovir will generate enough cost-savings to buy medicines for an additional 500,000 people by 2015. Support to the Global Fund will provide 268,000 HIV positive people with treatment and 37,000 women with treatment to prevent transmission to their babies.

Private Sector

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures his Department plans to use to assess the effectiveness of its private sector programme.

Stephen O'Brien: All of the Department for International Development's (DFID's) programmes—including private sector programmes—are subject to a rigorous assessment process. Information on how we measure progress against our objectives is available on the DFID website:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/How-we-measure-progress/
	The DFID Business Plan and Results Framework (both available at the link above) include indicators for our work with the private sector; for example, "The number of people with access to financial services as a result of DFID support".
	For DFID Country Offices and UK-based Departments, the measures of effectiveness are available in the relevant Operational Plans:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/What-we-do/Publications/?p-OP
	and at project level through the project database:
	http://projects.dfid.gov.uk/

Private Sector

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how his Department's private sector programme funding will be delivered; and which bodies and organisations will be involved in delivery.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development's (DFID's) work with the private sector is implemented through a range of funding mechanisms and implementation, partners. A case-by-case approach is taken to programme design to ensure maximum value for money and implementing partners include multilateral organisations, civil society organisations, and the private sector.
	Further information on implementation of private sector programmes, including on the bodies and organisations that will be involved in delivery, can be found in the relevant Operational Plans:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/What-we-do/Publications/?p=OP
	and project database:
	http://projects.dfid.gov.uk/

Private Sector

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what objectives his Department has set for its private sector programme.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development's (DFID's) work with the private sector is about generating opportunity and prosperity for poor people in developing countries. This work will deliver results for poor people through: better job opportunities and incomes; more readily available and affordable finance for households and small businesses; and more accessible, better quality healthcare, schooling and basic services.
	More detail on DFID's approach to working with the private sector is contained within the paper titled "The Engine of Development: The Private Sector and Prosperity for Poor People"
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Media-Room/News-Stories/2011/Mitchell-Harness-dynamism-and-energy-of-private-enterprise-in-international-development/
	DFID's priorities and headline results can be found in the business plan and results framework
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/How-we-measure-progress/
	Country offices' and UK-based departments' objectives are available in the relevant operational plans
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/What-we-do/Publications/?p=OP
	and project level objectives are available on the project database
	http://projects.dfid.gov.uk/

Private Sector

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion and how much in real terms of his Department's budget will be allocated to private sector projects in each year of the comprehensive spending review period.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not allocate a specific proportion of the budget to private sector projects. The DFID annual report and accounts 2010-11 set out the plans for the priority pillars for the four years of the spending review period and private sector department plans for the next two years. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to her on 7 September 2011, Official Report, column 704W:
	‘For planning purposes the Department for International Development (DFID) allocates money by priority pillars. The pillars are wealth creation, governance & security, climate change and global partnerships, as well as DFID funding in support of the Millennium Development Goals (education, health, water & sanitation and humanitarian assistance).’
	DFID's new private sector department will play a key role in promoting private sector activities within wealth creation, as well as the other pillars. More detail on DFID's approach to working with the private sector is contained within the paper titled "The Engine of Development: The Private Sector and Prosperity for Poor People". This can be found on the DFID website:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Media-Room/News-Stories/2011/Mitchell-Harness-dynamism-and-energy-of-private-enterprise-in-international-development/
	For more information on current activities in this area and budget allocations please see the DFID annual report and accounts 2010-11, which can also be found on the DFID website:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/about-us/how-we-measure-progress/annual-report/
	Further information on DFID projects/programmes can be accessed from our Project Information Database
	http://projects.dfid.gov.uk/
	individual country pages
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Where-we-work/
	and in the DFID departmental operational plans
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Site-search/?g=operational+plans
	on the DFID website.

Somaliland

Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what (a) development assistance and (b) other aid his Department provided to Somaliland (i) in each year from 2005 to 2010 and (ii) in the first half of 2011; and what the difference was between commitments and disbursements in each period.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not compile formal aid expenditure statistics broken down at sub-national level, or records commitment's separately for actual aid spending. UK bilateral aid expenditure to Somalia (including Somaliland) for each year 2005-06 to 2010-11, is given in the following table:
	
		
			 DFID  bilateral aid— Somalia 
			  Total (£000) of which: Humanitarian assistance 
			 2005-06 18,740 15,589 
			 2006-07 16,631 7,975 
			 2007-08 25,714 13,675 
			 2008-09 33,471 18,288 
			 2009-10 44,431 31,900 
			 2010-11 46,060 29,855 
			 Source: Statistics on International Development, 2011, 2010 http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/How-we-measure-progress/Aid-Statistics/ 
		
	
	In the year 2011-12, the UK intends to spend up to £103 million across Somalia, focused on heath services, private sector development, governance and peace-building and humanitarian assistance, subject to results. Up to 60% of this development funding (not including humanitarian aid) from 2011-12 to 2014-15 will be to Somaliland, dependent on results achieved.

Sudan: Debts

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral arrangements have been made with Sudan in respect of debt relief; and what conditions Sudan will need to meet before it qualifies for debt relief.

Andrew Mitchell: The UK has led international efforts to establish a technical working group to oversee the progress on the technical steps required before Sudan can receive debt relief, which last meet in September 2011. Additionally we have made clear on a number of occasions to the Sudanese Government that debt relief remains conditional on the need to see genuine progress towards inclusive peace and justice in Sudan, and resolving the outstanding issues from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Syria

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Homs; what plans are being made for the distribution of food and aid; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Mitchell: We are gravely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria. The UK has provided assistance to humanitarian agencies working in Homs and other areas to support emergency medical services and supplies for injured civilians, food rations for over 20,000 people, and other basic services, such as emergency water for 2,750 people. In addition, the UK has increased core funding significantly to humanitarian agencies this year such as UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP) to cover their ongoing operations all over the world, including in this region.
	Although humanitarian agencies are able to meet the needs of some of those in need, the actions of Assad and his regime are making it incredibly difficult to reach all civilians. We are continuing to call on the regime to allow unhindered and sustained access into the Baba Amr neighbourhood in Homs and other areas for humanitarian agencies to distribute aid and evacuate the civilians that are most in need.
	We welcome the Syria Humanitarian Forum on Thursday 8 March, jointly chaired by UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Arab League, which will bring the international community together to mobilize the humanitarian response.

West Africa

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what reports he has received on the humanitarian situation in Niger and Mali caused by drought and conflict; and what steps he is taking to provide humanitarian assistance to aid agencies.

Andrew Mitchell: In direct response to severe food shortages in the region, in January I announced an urgent package of UK support to help mitigate the crisis. British aid will help treat 83,000 severely malnourished children in Niger, Chad and Mali and provide emergency livelihood support to some 34,000 families to enable them to buy food for the coming months. In addition, British aid is already reaching those in need across the Sahel through the release of £10.7 million from the United Nation's Central Emergency Response Fund—to which Britain is a major contributor.
	Over the last couple of weeks the EC Humanitarian Office (ECHO) has revised its assessment of the food crisis in the Sahel. Currently, ECHO estimates that almost 12 million men, women and children across the Sahel region of West Africa are at risk of food shortages in the coming months. Of these, nearly 3 million are estimated to be at severe risk. These figures are expected to rise as the annual hungry period between harvests has started early this year.
	An upsurge in fighting between Tuareg rebels and the Malian Government has resulted in the displacement of 130,000 people; with 65,000 of these fleeing into neighbouring countries. In Niger and Burkina Faso, the refugees have arrived in some of the areas worst affected by food insecurity.
	My officials continue to monitor the situation closely, and liaise with their opposite numbers in other Governments to ensure other countries take their fair share of the response.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Equalities and Human Rights Commission

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities when the Equality and Human Rights Commission will publish its revised departmental strategic plan to reflect the changes to its services and staff numbers in the last 12 months.

Lynne Featherstone: The Equality and Human Rights Commission's strategic plan for 2012-15 will be published shortly.

Equalities and Human Rights Commission: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how many frontline staff the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (a) employs and (b) will employ after the new organisational design has been implemented in Scotland.

Lynne Featherstone: holding answer 6 March 2012
	The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is an arm's length body; the following is based on information it has provided.
	The EHRC currently employs eight staff in Scotland that work directly on its helpline. The EHRC employs a further 27 staff in Scotland; many of these individuals have direct contact with external organisations and individuals as part of their day-to-day responsibilities.
	The number of staff who will be employed in Scotland after the new organisational design has been implemented will be determined by the EHRC in due course, as a result of ongoing work and consultations.

EDUCATION

Academies

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on the formation of military academies; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Ministers have read with interest the report ‘Military Academies: Tackling disadvantage, improving ethos and changing outcomes’, published by ResPublica in January this year. I welcome the role the military and cadet forces can play in engaging young people. The Department is currently considering the ideas set out in this paper.

Academies: Private Finance Initiative

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether the annual charges for private finance initiative contracts on schools which subsequently take independent academy status are paid by the school or by the local education authority; and whether the financial allowances of local education authorities will be increased to limit any effect on other schools.

Nick Gibb: Under a private finance initiative (PFI) contract the local authority (LA) is normally responsible for paying the unitary charge to the PFI contractor throughout the lifetime of the contract. When a school becomes an academy, there should be no change and the local authority continues to pay this charge.
	LAs receive contributions towards the unitary charge from maintained schools involved in the PFI contract. Schools that become academies continue to make that contribution to the LA.
	LAs also receive revenue funding from the Department as a contribution to the PFI unitary charge. This funding continues whether or not schools become academies. Sometimes, the LA arrangements are such that the contributions from their schools plus the departmental revenue funding do not fully meet the unitary charge. Any shortfall is met by the LA. Again, arrangements are in place for this to continue when a school becomes an academy.
	The LA receives no extra funding since the arrangements described above are designed to make sure that the funding available to a LA for the unitary charge prior to a school in its area becoming an academy is the same as after the school has taken academy status.

Boarding Schools

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the name is of each publicly-funded boarding school or school with boarding houses; in which local authority each such school is located; how many pupils are on the roll at each school; and what proportion of pupils at each school (a) are eligible for free school meals, (b) have special educational needs, (c) are from ethnic minorities and (d) have been selected on the basis of (i) academic ability and (ii) aptitude.

Nick Gibb: The available information has been placed in the House Libraries.
	The table shows which of the boarding schools are classed as wholly selective. Other than this, information on the proportion of pupils that are selected on the basis of academic ability is not collected. Information on selection by aptitude is not collected.

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the cost per pupil of each school that has so far been built through the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Nick Gibb: Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects were funded on pupil numbers, and the funding for floor space was calculated on the basis of 50% new build, 35% refurbishment and 15% minor works. This provided an overall funding envelope, and it was decided locally how the funds were invested across groups of schools within a project. Local authorities and schools could supplement those resources if they wished to. The following table shows the capital cost per pupil, excluding any local authority contribution, for those completed schools for which we have complete and validated data.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Type of school Average cost per pupil Minimum cost per pupil Maximum cost per pupil 
			 Secondary 17,090 2,502 31,350 
			 Special educational needs 81,932 32,975 (1)187,325 
			 Pupil referral units 38,258 30,479 46,038 
			 (1) Includes residential accommodation. 
		
	
	The variation in cost per pupil reflects the range of projects, from major rebuilding to minor refurbishments. Special educational need schools and pupil referral units have a higher cost per pupil as they are built to a higher specification and have significantly fewer pupils than mainstream secondary schools.
	There are also 68 academies which are in procurement or construction through the BSF framework. These projects are significantly less expensive as a result of cost savings from a reduction in area and reduced specification.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Type of school Average cost per pupil Minimum cost per pupil Maximum cost per pupil 
			 Academies 10,245 2,386 17,463

Food Technology: Curriculum

Anna Soubry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to include the teaching of practical cooking skills in schools in his Department's curriculum review.

Nick Gibb: Schools have an important role to play in ensuring that children and young people learn practical cooking skills and acquire the knowledge that will equip them to prepare healthy meals. Whether we can best support schools to play that role by including practical cooking in the statutory curriculum is a matter that we will give consideration to as the current review of the National Curriculum proceeds. We will be announcing our proposals later this year.

Free School Meals

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the future of free school meals.

Nick Gibb: I have regular meetings with Ministers in the Department of Work and Pensions about the future of free school meals.
	Ministers and officials from both Departments are considering the options for new eligibility criteria. The Department for Education will consult on free school meal eligibility proposals in 2012, ahead of the introduction of universal credit from October 2013.

Free School Meals

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which English local authorities provided free school meals in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Wherever there is a child that is eligible for and claiming free school meals the school has to provide a meal. There are, therefore, no local authorities in England which do not provide any free school meals.
	Information on the number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals by local authority as at January 2011 is published in tables 11a and 11b of the Statistical First Release 'Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, January 2011' available at
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001012/index.shtml

GCSE

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils received grades at (a) A, (b) B, (c) C and (d) D or below in GCSE (i) English language, (ii) mathematics and (iii) combined science from (A) AQA, (B) CCEA, (C) Edexcel, (D) OCR and (E) WJEC in each year since 2000.

Nick Gibb: The information requested has been placed in the House Libraries. Information for years prior to 2008 can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

GCSE

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what support and resources will be given to teachers to help them implement proposed changes to GCSEs in geography, history, English literature and mathematics.

Nick Gibb: The Government are committed to restoring confidence in GCSEs as rigorous and valued qualifications. I therefore welcome the action being taken by the independent regulator, Ofqual, to help ensure that GCSEs in these subjects are challenging, requiring students to demonstrate that they have covered the appropriate range and depth of subject content. It will be for the Awarding Organisations to set out for schools and colleges the changes they will be making to these GCSEs as a result.

GCSE: Disadvantaged

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals did not achieve five GCSEs at A* to C in 2011 in (a) England and (b) Leeds North West constituency.

Nick Gibb: The information requested can be found in the following table. Figures for Leeds North West constituency for 2010/11 will not be available until around mid March 2012.
	
		
			 Percentage of pupils (1,2,3)  not achieving 5 A*- C grades at GCSE and equivalent in Leeds North West constituency (4)  and England (5) , years: 2009/10 to 2010/11 
			  2009/10 2010/11 
			  Number of pupils eligible for FSM Percentage of pupils eligible for FSM not achieving 5+ A*-C grades Number of pupils eligible for FSM Percentage of pupils eligible for FSM not achieving 5+ A*-C grades 
			 England 76,949 41.3 78,797 35.2 
			 Leeds North West constituency 118 53.4   
			 (1) Figures do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (2) Figures include all maintained schools {including CTCs and academies). (3) Pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in each academic year. (4) Parliamentary constituency figures are based on the postcode of the school. (5) England figures are the sum of all local authority figures. Source: National Pupil Database (2009/10 final data, 2010/11 revised data)

Literacy: Secondary Education

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what measures his Department has put in place to identify and support GCSE students with poor reading and comprehension skills; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Decisions on how to identify and support secondary school pupils with poor reading and comprehension skills are best made at a local level. It is the responsibility of schools to identify and support those pupils all stages, including at GCSE.

Mathematics: GCSE

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students taking GCSE mathematics in Gillingham and Rainham constituency achieved a pass rate of A* to C in the most recent period for which figures are available; and how many such students continued to study that subject at A-level.

Nick Gibb: Estimates of the number of pupils in Gillingham and Rainham constituency entering and achieving A*-C grades in maths, for the cohort who completed Key Stage 4 in 2007/08, are shown in Table 1 as follows. The number and proportion of these who went on to enter maths AS-levels by 2008/09, and maths A-levels by 2009/10, are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of pupils (1, 2, 3)  entering maths GCSE and percentage achieving A*-C grades (4, 5)  in Gillingham and Rainham constituency (6) , 2007/08 
			  Number of pupils:  
			 GCSE subject Taking maths Achieving A*-C Percentage achieving A*-C grades 
			 Maths 1,088 572 53 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number and percentage of pupils (1, 2, 3)  achieving maths GCSE at A*-C (4, 5)  who entered maths (7)  AS-levels by 2008/09 
			   From GCSE A*-C 
			   AS-level maths 
			 GCSE subject Number of pupils achieving A*-C Number Percentage of A*-C 
			 Maths 572 44 8 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Number and percentage of pupils (1, 2, 3)  achieving maths GCSE at A*-C (4, 5)  who entered maths (7)  A-levels by 2009/10 
			   From GCSE A*-C 
			   A-level maths 
			 GCSE subject Number of pupils achieving A*-C Number Percentage of A*-C 
			 Maths 572 38 7 
			 (1) Figures do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (2) Figures include all maintained schools (including CTCs and academies). (3) Pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in the 2007/08 academic year. (4) Percentage achieving A*- C based on the number of pupils entering each subject. (5) Including attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years. (6) Parliamentary constituency figures are based on the postcode of the school. (7) Includes maths, mechanics, pure, applied, discrete, statistics, further and additional maths. Source: National Pupil Database

Military Academies

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received on the proposed formation of military academies.

Nick Gibb: I have met my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury (Mr Brazier) and Colonel Hugh Purcell to discuss a range of issues including military academies.
	Ministers have also read with interest the report "Military Academies: Tackling disadvantage, improving ethos and changing outcomes" published by ResPublica in January this year. I welcome the role the military and cadet forces can play in engaging young people, and I have asked officials from the Department to discuss with the Reserves Forces and Cadets Association the ideas set out in this paper.

Ofsted: Inspections

Elizabeth Truss: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the cost was of Ofsted inspections of (a) childminders, (b) nurseries and (c) schools in the latest year for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 1 March 2012
	This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has written to my hon. Friend, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries.
	Letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
	The information you have requested is set out in the table.
	All costs relate to the most recent full year, 2010-11, and include direct and indirect costs plus overheads less income. It should be noted that overall costs in Ofsted have reduced since 2010-11 and are planned to reduce in total by 30% by the end of the Comprehensive Spending Review period in 2014-15.
	
		
			 2010-11 full cost of inspection 2010-11 direct and indirect costs plus overheads less income (£ million) 
			 Schools (s5 Maintained and Independent) 58.8 
			 Childminders (Registration and Inspection) 19.6 
			 Early Years, (Registration and Inspection, excluding nurseries in schools and childminders, and non-inspection related visits) 12.2 
		
	
	Please note that for schools, the costs for 2010-11 show no impact from the changes to inspection frameworks made in January 2012 or the planned framework changes anticipated in September 2012.
	For Early Years the table shows, as requested, the 2010-11 costs relating to the registration and inspection of child minders separately from the cost of other provision. The costs exclude other 'non-inspection related visits' such as following up complaints and interviewing new managers to ensure they understand the requirements of the EYFS well enough to deem them to be suitable for their new role.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects the internal review of personal, social, health and economic education to be published.

Nick Gibb: We are currently considering the representations made to the review of personal social health and economic education (PSHE), the national and international research evidence, and views obtained from meetings with stakeholders. We expect to publish proposals on PSHE later this year, after the next stage of the National Curriculum review.

Private Education

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which formerly independent schools have joined the state sector, broken down by (a) local education authority and (b) school type in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: The following table sets out the names of independent schools which have joined the state sector in each of the last five years, the local authorities they are sited in and the type of school they have become.
	
		
			 Year (January to December) Local authority School name School category 
			 2007 Barnet Akiva School VA 
			  Leicester City Madani High School VA 
			  Bolton Bolton Muslim Girls School VA 
			  Liverpool Belvedere Secondary School Academy 
			  Manchester William Hulme's Grammar School Academy 
			     
			 2008 Lambeth Iqra Primary School VA 
			  Bristol City Bristol Cathedral Choir School Academy 
			  Bristol City Colstans Girls' School Academy 
			  Herefordshire Hereford Waldorf School Academy 
			     
			 2009 Wirral Birkenhead High School Academy 
			     
			 2010 Kent Duke of York's Royal Military School Academy 
			     
			 2011 Barnet Edgware Jewish Primary School VA 
			  Lancashire Preston Muslim Girls School VA 
			  Birmingham Harper Bell Seventh Day Adventist School VA 
			  Kirklees Batley Grammar School Free School 
			  Luton Moorlands School Free School 
		
	
	
		
			  Lancashire Maharishi School Free School 
			  Warwickshire Priors School Free School 
			  Cheshire East Sandbach School Free School

Schools: Admissions

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils in each local authority in England attending wholly selective secondary schools (a) were eligible for free school meals, (b) had special educational needs and (c) were from ethnic minority families in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the equivalent figures were for (i) the local authority in which these schools are located and (ii) England.

Nick Gibb: The information requested has been placed in the House Libraries.

Schools: Admissions

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils in publicly-funded grammar schools including fully selective academies aged (a) 11 to 18, (b) 11 to 15 and (c) 16 to 18 years were eligible for free school meals in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The requested information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 State-funded selective schools (1) , number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals by age (2,3,4) : January 2011, England 
			  Selective schools (1) 
			 Pupils aged: Number on roll Number known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (3) Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5) 
			 11 to 18 160,210 3.860 2.4 
			 11 to 15 112,535 3,010 2.7 
			 16 to 18 47,675 850 1.8 
			 All pupils(6) 160,260 3,860 2.4 
			 (1)Includes 164 selective secondary schools, including selective academies. (2) Age as at 31 August 2010. (3) Includes all full-time and part-time pupils who are sole or dual main registrations. Includes boarders. (4)The Department's usual measure of free school meal eligibility includes full time pupils aged 0 to 15 and part time pupils aged five to 15 because far fewer pupils below and over compulsory school age claim for free school meals. (5) Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals expressed as a percentage of number (headcount) of pupils in each age group. (6) Middle deemed secondary schools and all through schools deemed as secondary result in some pupils aged under 11 in secondary schools. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: School Census

Schools: Capital Investment

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to announce what resources are being allocated to Warrington under his capital programme.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 6 March 2012
	On 13 December 2011, Official  Report, columns 92-5WS, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), announced capital funding for all local authorities for 2012-13, including allocations for basic need (funding for additional pupil places) and maintenance. Capital funding totalling £6 million was allocated to Warrington and its schools.
	This funding does not include an additional £600 million for basic need which was allocated to the Department in the Chancellor's autumn statement, 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810. We are considering how best to allocate this funding and an announcement will be made in due course.
	All applications for funding through the Priority School Building Programme are currently being assessed and an announcement about those projects approved to proceed will be made as soon as possible.

Schools: Crimes of Violence

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2012, Official Report, columns 439-40W, on teachers: crimes of violence, what steps he has taken since coming to office to reduce the number of incidents of physical assaults of teachers.

Nick Gibb: The Department deplores any incidents of assault against teachers. The Education Act 2011 contained measures to ensure that teachers and head teachers have the powers they need to restore adult authority in schools. We have already commenced provisions that remove the requirement on schools to give parents 24 hours notice of detention.
	Provisions in the Act will be commenced shortly that give teachers additional powers to search pupils for any items that have been, or could be, used to cause harm or break the law and for any items banned by school rules. In September 2012, provisions in the Act will be commenced replacing independent appeal panels with independent review panels so that schools cannot be forced to reinstate violent or disruptive pupils who have been permanently excluded. Further provisions that will grant teachers anonymity when facing allegations from, or on behalf of, a pupil will come into force in October 2012.
	Teachers who have been subjected to abuse or violence should report any such incident to their employer, which in most schools is the governing body or the local authority. Their employer is under a duty of care to address and resolve any issues as swiftly and effectively as possible.

Schools: Governing Bodies

Aidan Burley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he plans to update his Department's guide to the law for school governors.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The Government are strongly committed to streamlining the bureaucratic requirements that affect schools and streamlining guidance and other paperwork. We are currently considering the best approach to correcting those sections of the Governors' Guide to the Law that are out of date.

Schools: Standards

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools have been placed in special measures by Ofsted in each year since 1992.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has written to my hon. Friend, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries.
	Letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
	The term 'special measures' was established under the Education Act 1993 and has been incorporated into subsequent legislation. A school made subject to special measures is one where her Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that a school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.
	Ofsted records all judgements made by inspectors on inspections, including the summative judgement for the overall effectiveness of a school. Information provided in this response includes ail inspections where a school was made subject to special measures between the academic years 1993/94 and 2010/11.
	The number of schools placed in special measures between 1993/94 and 2010/11 can be found in Table A.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
	
		
			 Table A: Schools placed in special measures in each academic year 1993/94 to 2010/11 
			 Academic year Total number of schools placed in special measures 
			 1993/94 24 
			 1994/95 82 
			 1995/96 143 
			 1996/97 196 
			 1997/98 272 
			 1998/99 195 
			 1999/2000 230 
			 2000/01 137 
			 2001/02 128 
			 2002/03 161 
			 2003/04 213 
			 2004/05 103 
			 2005/06 167 
			 2006/07 186 
			 2007/08 151 
			 2008/09 122 
			 2009/10 227 
			 2010/11 166

Schools: Standards

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools have successfully appealed against being placed in special measures by Ofsted in each year since 1992.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has written to my hon. Friend, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries.
	Letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw, dated 5 March 2012
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
	The term ‘special measures’ was established under the Education Act 1993 and has been incorporated into subsequent legislation. A school made subject to special measures is one where her Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that a school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.
	Accordingly, 2,903 schools have been placed in special measures since the academic year 1993/04, as in the following table.
	
		
			 Academic year Total number of schools placed in special measures 
			 1993/94 24 
			 1994/95 82 
			 1995/96 143 
			 1996/97 196 
			 1997/98 272 
			 1998/99 195 
			 1999/00 230 
			 2000/01 137 
			 2001/02 128 
			 2002/03 161 
			 2003/04 213 
			 2004/05 103 
			 2005/06 167 
			 2006/07 186 
			 2007/08 151 
			 2008/09 122 
			 2009/10 227 
			 2010/11 166 
		
	
	Ofsted holds figures on the number of special measures judgements for schools, which were corroborated by Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI), between 2000 and 2009, as in the following table.
	Ofsted does not hold data centrally about the number of schools where a special measures judgement was changed prior to 2000.
	
		
			 Academic year Schools moderated from Special Measures to Serious Weaknesses/Notice to Improve (1) Schools moderated from Special Measures to Satisfactory 
			 2000/01 to 2008/9 19 4 
			 (1) The designation for this judgement changed from ‘serious weaknesses’ to ‘notice to improve’ during the period in question. 
		
	
	In 2009, the responsibility for this work transferred to Ofsted's Quality Assurance Division. The following figures show the number of special measures judgements that have changed in each academic year since 2009.
	
		
			 Academic year Schools moderated from Special Measures to Notice to Improve Schools moderated from Special Measures to Satisfactory 
			 2009/10 5 0 
			 2010/11 5 1 
			 2011/12 2 0 
		
	
	A school given a notice to improve is, like a school placed in ‘special measures’, judged to be providing an unacceptable standard of education, although the leaders and managers in the former have demonstrated their capacity to improve provision.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, and will be placed in the Library of both Houses.

Schools: Teaching Methods

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of children in secondary schools were taught in classes with (a) streaming and (b) setting in each year since 1996-97; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Ofsted holds data on the number and proportion of lessons observed during inspections in which setting, streaming or banding by ability is used. Since the data are based on lessons seen by inspectors, they may not represent arrangements in the school as a whole, and may not therefore be an indicator of the use of these forms of grouping at a national level.
	Ofsted has provided the data on the proportion of observed lessons in secondary schools from September 1996 to August 2011 which were taught in set or streamed classes. This includes all subjects except physical education. The data have been placed in the House Libraries.
	The Department has not provided specific guidance to schools on setting. However, case studies showing the effective use of setting in schools are available on the Department's website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/inclusionandlearnersupport/onetoonetuition/a00199773/setting-case-studies

Science: GCSE

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students taking GCSE science subjects in Gillingham and Rainham constituency achieved a pass rate of A* to C; and how many such students continued to study science subjects at A-Level in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Estimates of the number of pupils in Gillingham and Rainham constituency entering and achieving A*-C grades in science subjects, for the cohort who completed key stage 4 in 2007/08, are shown in Table 1. The number and proportion of these who went on to enter science AS levels by 2008/09, and science A-levels by 2009/10, are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of pupils (1,2,3)  entering science GCSEs and percentage achieving A*-C grades (4,5)  in Gillingham and Rainham constituency (6) , 2007/08 
			  Number of pupils: Percentage achieving 
			  taking each GCSE achieving A*-C A*-C grades 
			 Biology 302 165 55 
			 Chemistry 157 144 92 
			 Physics 157 147 94 
			 Additional science 228 130 57 
			 Core science 924 394 43 
			 Source: National Pupil Database 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number and percentage of pupils (1,2,3)  achieving science GCSEs at A*-C (4,5)  who entered science AS leve l s by 2008/09 
			   From GCSE A*-C 
			   AS level biology AS level chemistry AS level physics 
			 GCSE subject No.  of pupils achieving A*-C No. % of A*-C No. % of A*-C No. % of A*-C 
			 Biology 165 57 35 223 1 20 12 
			 Chemistry 144 55 38 21 15 20 14 
			 Physics 147 54 37 21 14 20 14 
			 Additional science 130 10 8 9 7 3 2 
			 Core science 394 11 3 11 3 3 1 
			 Source: National Pupil Database 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Number and percentage of pupils (1,2,3)  achieving science GCSEs at A*-C (4,5)  who entered science A levels by 2009/10 
			   From GCSE A*-C 
			   A level biology A level chemistry A level physics 
			 GCSE subject Number of pupils achievin g  A*-C No. % of A*-C No. % of A*-C No. % of A*-C 
			 Biology 165 57 35 22 13 20 12 
			 Chemistry 144 55 38 21 15 20 14 
			 Physics 147 54 37 21 14 20 14 
			 Additional science 130 6 5 5 4 (7)— (7)— 
			 Core science 394 7 2 6 2 (7)— (7)— 
			 (1) Figures do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (2) Figures include all maintained schools (including CTCs and academies). (3) Pupils at the end of key stage 4 in the 2007/08 academic year. (4) Percentage achieving A*- C based on the number of pupils entering each subject. (5) Including attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years. (6) Parliamentary constituency figures are based on the postcode of the school. (7) Indicates that a figure of less than three pupils has been suppressed Source: National Pupil Database

Science: Schools

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to encourage more schools to become specialist in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects.

Nick Gibb: The Government want all schools to excel in teaching STEM subjects and are doing much to achieve this. Over the current spending review period we will be investing up to £135 million to improve the quality of science and mathematics teaching.
	Our schools reforms include the development of Teaching Schools, many of which will lead in STEM subjects and use that expertise to help improve the quality of STEM education in other schools. We are also developing University Technical Colleges, all of which will provide opportunities for 14 to 19-year-olds to experience high quality technical education, and we taking forward proposals to develop specialist mathematics schools for 16 to 18-year-olds.

Secondary Education

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) unique reference number and (b) establishment number is of each maintained secondary school in England that has been open since at least 2000; how many year 11 students each such school had in 2010; how many pupils at such schools entered GCSE English with WJEC in each year between 2000 and 2010; and what proportion of pupils at such schools attained each grade at GCSE English in each year between 2000 and 2010.

Nick Gibb: This information could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

Students: Finance

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reasons bursary payments for Postgraduate Certificate in Education students were (a) discontinued in the academic year 2011-12 and (b) reintroduced in academic year 2012-13; and whether he plans to reimburse students who started their course in academic year 2011-12.

Nick Gibb: We continued paying training bursaries in academic year 2011/12 to those training in the priority subjects of physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, biology, combined/general science and modern foreign languages. We stopped making them available in other subjects. The training bursaries are an additional incentive to train. All trainees continue to be able to access the student loans and grants paid through the Student Loans Company for which undergraduate students are eligible. The bursaries were introduced in 2000 during a time of teacher shortages which have since alleviated.
	We have introduced different bursary arrangements for graduate trainees in 2012/13. The new bursary arrangements have been designed to attract the highest quality graduates into teaching particularly in those subject areas where it is still difficult to recruit enough trainees. They also take account of the higher tuition charge cap.

Teachers: Employment

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of teachers at each teaching grade who are actively seeking employment.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 1 March 2012
	It is estimated that about 24,000 inactive teachers will actively seek employment in a maintained school or academy in England during the current academic year. This excludes newly qualified teachers who are looking for work in the two years following qualification.
	The Department does not produce estimates by teaching grade.

Teachers: Recruitment

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teachers were recruited at each teaching grade in each of the last two years.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 1 March 2012
	The following table provides the headcount number of qualified teachers taking up a new post in publicly funded schools for the academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10 broken down by grade.
	
		
			 Recruitment of qualified teachers to publicly funded schools, by grade. Years: 2008-09 (7)  and 2009-10 (7)  Coverage: England 
			 Headcount 
			  2008-09 2009-10 
			  Full-time Part-time (1) Total Full-time Part-time (1) Total 
			 Entrants to teaching (2)       
			 Classroom grades       
			 Main pay scale 32,230 6,740 38,960 27,770 6,280 34,050 
			 Upper pay scale 3,000 4,430 7,430 2,730 4,410 7,130 
			 AST and Excellent teacher 50 20 70 50 10 60 
			 Total classroom 35,280 11,190 46,470 30,540 10,700 41,240 
			        
			 Leadership grades(3) 800 100 900 770 130 890 
			        
			 Unknown(4) 1,690 160 1,850 2,050 170 2,210 
			        
			 Total 37,770 11,450 49,220 33,350 10,990 44,340 
			        
			 Regrades (5)       
			 Classroom grades       
			 Main pay scale 4,930 1,200 6,130 4,290 1,100 5,380 
			 Upper pay scale 17,930 4,040 21,970 16,790 3,900 20,690 
			 AST and Excellent teacher 850 70 920 770 50 820 
			 Total classroom 23,710 5,310 29,020 21,840 5,050 26,890 
			        
			 Leadership grades(3) 12,330 520 12,850 10,880 660 11,540 
		
	
	
		
			        
			 Unknown(4) 1,410 330 1,740 320 170 490 
			        
			 Total 37,440 6,170 43,610 33,040 5,880 38,920 
			        
			 Recruitment at the same grade (6)       
			 Classroom grades       
			 Main pay scale 13,830 2,400 16,220 13,850 2,730 16,590 
			 Upper pay scale 6,540 2,680 9,220 8,070 3,360 11,430 
			 AST and Excellent teacher 100 20 120 140 20 160 
			 Total classroom 20,470 5,100 25,570 22,060 6,110 28,170 
			        
			 Leadership grades(3) 1,870 70 1,940 2,910 140 3,050 
			        
			 Unknown(4) 10 10 20 30 20 50 
			        
			 Total 22,350 5,180 27,520 25,010 6,270 31,270 
			        
			 All recruitment       
			 Classroom grades       
			 Main pay scale 50,990 10,340 61,320 45,910 10,110 56,010 
			 Upper pay scale 27,470 11,150 38,620 27,580 11,670 39,250 
			 AST and Excellent teacher 1,000 110 1,110 960 80 1,040 
			 Total classroom 79,460 21,600 101,060 74,440 21,860 96,300 
			        
			 Leadership grades(3) 14,990 700 15,690 14,550 930 15,480 
			        
			 Unknown(4) 3,100 500 3,610 2,400 360 2,750 
			        
			 Total 97,560 22,790 120,350 91,390 23,140 114,530 
			 (1) Part-time figures are underestimated by around 15%. This is due to the underreporting of teachers who have not opted to be members of the Teachers' Pensions Scheme,. (2) Teachers recorded as 'not in service' as a qualified teacher in the English publicly funded sector at the commencement of the year including new and re-entrants to teaching and those moving from other education sectors. (3) Information is only available for the leadership group as a whole due to an issue with the recording of individual grades within this group. (4) Includes teachers whose grade is not recorded or qualified teachers recorded on the unqualified pay scale. (5) Teachers who changed grade and were in service in the sector at both the beginning and the end of the year. These include both promotions and moves to posts of lesser responsibility. Figures include movements between grades between and within schools. (6) Teachers who have taken up a new post in a different school at the same grade. Figures are not available for teachers who have taken up a new post in the same school at the same grade, (eg those that have taken on a role with additional responsibility). (7 )Provisional. Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Totals may not add to component parts because of rounding. Source: Database of Teacher Records

Teachers: Redundancy

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teachers at each teaching grade have been made redundant in the last two years.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 1 March 2012
	The information requested is not collected centrally.
	Information on the number of teachers who retired prematurely in 2010/11 is available in table H4 of the additional tables that were published in the 'School Workforce Statistical First Release, November 2010, (Provisional)' at the following web link:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00196713/school-workforce-sfr

Teachers: Training

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he will consider including a module on organising a school visit in teacher training courses; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Government recognise the important contribution that school visits can make to engaging and supporting pupils in their education. All staff who take pupils on school visits should be properly trained and prepared to do so. It is the responsibility of head teachers to ensure that their staff have the necessary knowledge and skills before taking pupils on out of class activities. This preparation may include some form of additional training, if they consider this to be necessary and appropriate.
	The new Teachers' Standards, which set out what is expected of all qualified teachers, require teachers to be able to plan out of class activities to consolidate and extend the knowledge and understanding pupils have acquired. It is for training providers to decide what trainees should be taught to enable them to achieve the Teachers' Standards. The Department does not mandate content of initial teacher training courses.

University Technical Colleges

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what criteria were adopted and applied by his Department to determine which universities should be invited to establish a university teaching school; and when the application process was made public.

Nick Gibb: In the White Paper: 'The Importance of Teaching', we said that we would invite higher education providers of initial teacher training to open university training schools. Officials from the Department and the Training and Development Agency have been responding to universities who have expressed an interest. The Department has not published formal criteria as yet so has not invited any universities to attend meetings. Our working assumption has been that universities will run a school, provide outstanding initial teacher training and continuing professional development and undertake research. We aim to make an announcement shortly.
	Independent of this announcement, the Institute of Education, in partnership with a group of parents, submitted an application last year. As the Free School bid had many of the features of a prospective university training school all of the parties involved agreed to develop the proposal as a pathfinder UTS and this is now progressing through the Department's Free School application process. The university of Birmingham has also registered an interest in setting up a university training school as part of their proposals submitted this year.
	Universities, which would like to discuss their plans to set up a university training school, should contact Michele Marr at the Training and Development Agency (TDA) at:
	michele.marr@tda.gov.uk

HEALTH

Influenza: Vaccination

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 28 February 2012, Official Report, column 251W, on influenza: vaccination, how the stock of unused vaccine was disposed of; what the cost was of disposing of the stock; and what the value was of the unused stock.

Simon Burns: Unused stock of Pandemrix held centrally was disposed of by incineration. The cost of incineration was estimated at £45,000. Local national health service bodies will have been responsible for the disposal of stock held locally and details of local disposal costs are not held centrally. The value of the unused stock remains confidential as, given other information in the public domain, it could be used to calculate a unit price for the vaccine, which is still considered commercial in confidence.

National Health Service Commissioning Boards

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the principal functions of the proposed National Health Service Commissioning Boards are; and what its principal powers and responsibilities are.

Simon Burns: The proposed powers, functions and responsibilities of the NHS Commissioning Board are set out in the Health and Social Care Bill, and are therefore subject to parliamentary approval. The main functions envisaged for the Board are:
	to provide national leadership on commissioning for quality improvement and reducing inequalities in access to, and the outcomes of, health care;
	to promote and extend public and patient involvement and choice;
	to establish and support the development of clinical commissioning groups and hold them to account for outcomes and financial performance;
	to commission certain services directly, including primary care and specialised services; and
	to allocate and account for the resources used to commission national health service services.
	The NHS Commissioning Board Authority has been established as a special health authority to prepare for the establishment of the board later this year. The authority's proposals for developing the NHS Commissioning Board and more recently on the design of the NHS Commissioning Board are available on its website at:
	www.commissioningboard.nhs.uk

Asthma

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people diagnosed with chronic asthma wait more than 48 hours to see a doctor.

Paul Burstow: The latest results from the GP Patient Survey show that, of everyone surveyed who said that they had asthma or a long-term chest problem, 51% of people saw their doctor either on the same day or the next working day (compared to the rest of the population where the percentage was 49%).

Cancer: Drugs

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what information his Department holds on the number of cancer patients in the UK treated with fluorouracil; and how many such patients have had subsequent health problems due to that treatment;
	(2)  how many cancer patients died as a result of fluorouracil being administered during treatment in the latest period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) does not hold data on the number of cancer patients in the United Kingdom treated with fluorouracil.
	The Yellow Card Scheme provides for voluntary reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) by health care professionals and members of the public. The scheme is run by the MHRA and Commission for Human Medicines and collects ADR reports from across the whole UK for all medicines. There is also a legal obligation for pharmaceutical companies to report all serious ADRs for their products that they are aware of.
	As the scheme is voluntary, it is recognised that not all ADRs are reported. Data collected through, the Yellow Card Scheme do not represent all patients who have suffered an adverse reaction to a medicine. Therefore it is not possible to provide the number of patients who have had subsequent health problems due to treatment with fluorouracil.
	Up to 1 March 2012, the MHRA has received a total of 460 UK spontaneous ‘suspected’ ADR reports associated with fluorouracil. 35 of these reports had a fatal outcome. 316 of these reports were associated with intravenous administration, 34 with topical administration and 110 with the route of administration as other or not stated.
	It is important to note that the reporting of a suspected adverse reaction does not necessarily mean it is related to the drug. We ask reporters to send us ‘suspicions’ of adverse drug reactions: however, these are not proven. Many factors have to be taken into account in assessing causal relationships including temporal association, the possible contribution of concomitant medication and the underlying disease being treated.

Cancer: Health Services

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what (a) pharmacological treatments and (b) associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended for cancer treatment through either single of multiple technology appraisals since NICE was established;
	(2)  what (a) pharmacological treatments and (b) associated indications the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recommended for cancer treatment under the end of life criteria since the criteria was introduced in 2009;
	(3)  what (a) pharmacological treatments and (b) associated indications the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has not recommended for cancer treatment since it was established;
	(4)  what (a) pharmacological treatments and (b) associated indications the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recommended for (a) prostate cancer, (b) lung cancer, (c) bowel cancer, (d) breast cancer and (e) kidney cancer through (i) single or multiple technology appraisals and (ii) under the end of life criteria since it was established;
	(5)  if he will publish the final calculated cost per quality adjusted life year of each pharmacological treatment and associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has not recommended for cancer treatment since NICE was established;
	(6)  if he will publish the final calculated cost per quality adjusted life year of each pharmacological treatment and associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended for cancer treatments; and which such treatment and indications have been recommended for cancer treatment under the end of life criteria since NICE was established;
	(7)  if he will publish the determined population size for each pharmacological treatment and associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended for cancer treatment under the end of life criteria since NICE was established;
	(8)  if he will publish the determined population size for each pharmacological treatment and associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recommended for cancer treatment since it was established.

Simon Burns: The information requested is not held by the Department. I have asked the chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to write to the hon. Member with this information. A copy will be placed in the Library.

Cardiovascular system: Health Services

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps will be taken to ensure continuity of care for patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what plans he has to improve the information, support and advice given to patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction about their medication to improve compliance with their treatment regime;
	(3)  when the outcomes strategy for cardiovascular disease will be published.

Simon Burns: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently developing guidance on the acute management of myocardial infarction.
	NICE is also updating its 2007 guidance on secondary prevention in primary and secondary care for patients following a myocardial infarction. The guidance recommends that after a myocardial infarction patients should have the opportunity to make informed decisions about, their care and treatment, in partnership with their health care professionals.
	NHS Improvement has produced a resource for the national health service on primary angioplasty and health information provision.
	The topic of acute coronary syndromes (including myocardial infarction) has been referred to NICE for Quality Standard development. Quality Standards provide a valuable source of advice and guidance for commissioners and providers as they describe what high quality, clinically and cost-effective care should look like.
	The development of the cardiovascular disease outcomes strategy is in its early stages and no date has yet been set for its publication.

Cardiovascular system: Health Services

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce a national cardiovascular patient experience survey.

Simon Burns: The Department currently has no plans to introduce a national cardiovascular patient experience survey. However, it is intended that patient groups will be invited to contribute to the development of the cardiovascular disease outcomes strategy.

Departmental Manpower

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff are working on implementing the national health service transition programme; and how many such staff are (a) directly and (b) indirectly employed.

Simon Burns: The NHS transition programme to implement the structural and system changes in the Health and Social Care Bill encompasses all the primary care trusts, strategic health authorities, the Department of Health, and several of the Department's arm’s length bodies. Each of these organisations are employing staff on transition work. However, information is not held centrally on the number of both direct and indirect staff employed and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Senior Civil Servants

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to unwind the use of personal service companies by senior civil servants in his Department and its agencies; for what reason he is taking any such steps; and at what cost.

Simon Burns: No senior civil servants in the Department or its agency, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), are paid their salaries or other payments through the use of personal service companies.
	The Department Sources specific skills and experience through commercial means where this is required to meet business needs. This requires payments to private companies for, for example, temporary staff or contractors, and to consultancies. Some of the payments are for the services of staff filling senior civil service equivalent roles.
	The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), has announced an urgent review of the tax arrangements of senior public sector appointments, to report by the end of March 2012. As part of this, the Department is currently carrying out a major data gathering exercise which includes the MHRA, non-departmental public bodies and the national health service in order to determine the contracting arrangements of senior appointees. This exercise is expected to be completed by mid-March.

Health: Finance

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on the proposed allocation of public health funding to the London borough of Bexley council.

Simon Burns: Alongside the recent correspondence from my hon. Friend dated 16 February, the Department has also received correspondence from the Leader of Bexley council, Teresa O'Neill, about the implications of the recently published estimates of baseline public health spend in 2010-11 uplifted to 2012-13 values.
	We have encouraged the council to continue to work together with their local primary care trust, and to inform the Department if they feel adjustments are needed to correct their estimated baseline spend.

HIV Infection: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) the London borough of Bexley and (b) London were diagnosed with HIV in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The number of people who were diagnosed with HIV in the London borough of Bexley, and in London as a whole, over the last five years is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 New HIV diagnoses made in the London borough of Bexley and London: 2006-10 
			  Bexley London 
			 2006 * 3,097 
			 2007 6 3,029 
			 2008 6 3,043 
			 2009 0 2,842 
			 2010 0 2,891 
			 Notes: 1. Numbers between one and four have been anonymised with an ‘*’. 2. There are no genitourinary medicine clinics (the main providers of HIV testing) in the borough of Bexley, therefore it is most likely that residents travel to neighbouring boroughs in London to access HIV testing services. Consequently the number provided is not reflective of the number of people diagnosed with a HIV infection who live in the borough.

Lyme Disease

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance is provided to GPs on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.

Simon Burns: Guidance for clinicians on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is published on the Health Protection Agency's website along with advice for the public on how to avoid infection and what to do if bitten by a tick at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/LymeDisease/
	The chief medical officer issues regular updates to clinicians about Lyme disease to remind them of the signs, symptoms and treatment of Lyme disease and the appropriate diagnostic tools at their disposal.

Lyme Disease

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of the prevention and causes of Lyme disease.

Simon Burns: The chief medical officer issues regular updates to clinicians about Lyme disease to remind them of the signs/symptoms and treatment of Lyme disease and the appropriate diagnostic tools at their disposal. Guidance for clinicians on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is published on the Health Protection Agency's (HPA) website along with advice for the public on how to avoid infection and what to do if bitten by a tick at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/LymeDisease/
	The HPA issues an annual press release in the spring to raise public awareness of ticks, tick bites and Lyme disease and how to avoid infection. The HPA has also produced a leaflet in conjunction with the Royal Parks and the New Forest district council on ticks and Lyme disease which gives advice on how to avoid infection.

Lyme Disease

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed with Lyme disease in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

Simon Burns: Borrelia spp, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is a notifiable causative agent in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010, and all laboratory isolations of Borreliaspp in a human sample must now be notified to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in England. The HPA has confirmed that the number of laboratory confirmed reports of Lyme borreliosis were 973 in 2009 and 905 in 2010. The figures for 2011 have not yet been confirmed and will be published on the HPA's website when available. The number of people diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptoms alone and without laboratory confirmation is not available.

Lyme Disease

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS consultants were involved in the treatment of extreme cases of Lyme disease in the latest period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Lyme Disease

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department is undertaking on the treatment of Lyme disease.

Simon Burns: The Department has no research projects in place concerning the treatment of Lyme disease.

Lyme Disease: Blood Tests

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what blood tests are available for the testing of Lyme disease and associated tick borne diseases.

Simon Burns: National health service laboratories offering tests to assist in the diagnosis of Lyme disease use CE-marked test kits. A wide range of validated and CE-marked test kits to detect the presence of antibodies to
	Borrelia burgdorferi
	, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is available for use in the European Union. In the United Kingdom, reference laboratories perform additional in-house validation exercises prior to their introduction into routine diagnostic use to ensure that their performance parameters (sensitivity and specificity) have also been tested thoroughly under local conditions. The Health Protection Agency's Lyme reference laboratory uses commercially produced and CE-marked Trinity Biotech EU Lyme IgM and EU Lyme+VlsE IgG western blots as supplementary (second stage) tests in the investigation of suspected Lyme borreliosis.
	This two stage testing for Lyme disease conforms to internationally agreed criteria for testing for Lyme disease.

Maternity Services

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the clinical outcome review programme for maternal and newborn health will be resumed.

Paul Burstow: The re-tendering of the Maternal and Newborn Clinical Outcome Review Programme is in its final stage. A new supplier will be in place from 1 April 2012 to manage this programme.
	The Health Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), who manage the Clinical Outcomes Review Programme, has interim management of the secure web-based portal that supports the collection of maternal and perinatal mortality data. This continues to operate as usual under the management of HQIP, and the notification of maternal and newborns deaths continues as before.

Medical Treatments abroad

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many UK citizens received treatment abroad as part of EEA agreements in each year for which figures are available; and in what country such treatment took place.

Simon Burns: Due to the nature of the claims process between member states, the Department is unable to disaggregate this information for the number of individuals using the European Health Insurance Card or for United Kingdom state pensioners that have retired abroad.
	The following table shows the number of elective treatment, requests, granted under European Union regulations, for UK citizens to receive treatment in another European economic area country:
	
		
			  Number of E112/S2s issued by UK 
			 2008 1,477 
			 2009 1,609 
			 2010 1,442 
			 2011 1,519

NHS: Procurement

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that primary care trusts and clinical commissioning groups that commission NHS Continuing Healthcare adhere to a single set of national eligibility criteria to ensure consistent application of standards and prevent geographical inequalities in eligibility.

Paul Burstow: Health care is a devolved matter. Decisions about national health service continuing health care (CHC) are a matter for the Welsh Assembly Government.
	In England, the Department is working closely with strategic health authorities, and the NHS Commissioning Board special health authority, to ensure a smooth transition for NHS-funded CHC, and to take opportunities to improve consistent application of the National Framework to ensure consistent national standards of eligibility.

NHS: Reform

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to minimise disruption for staff during the period of transition in the national health service.

Simon Burns: The Department has put a number of measures in place to minimise the disruption to staff during the current transition period, including Human Resources Transition Frameworks covering the organisations to be affected. People Transition Policies for the new bodies have also been developed in partnership with trade unions and representatives from the national health service, arm's length bodies and the Department to guide staff affected by the transition through these current reforms.

NHS: Reorganisation

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the principal efficiency savings derived from his transition programme in the NHS will be.

Simon Burns: The principal efficiency savings derived from the programme of modernisation in the national health service relate to the reduction in administration costs by reducing and delayering bureaucracy. This will result in total savings of £4.5 billion by 2014-15 and annual savings of £1.5 billion thereafter. These savings will contribute towards overall annual efficiency improvements in the NHS of up to £20 billion by 2014-15. The efficiency savings and other benefits of the proposed reforms are described in more detail in the published impact assessments of the Health and Social Care Bill.

Palliative Care

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to improve palliative care for patients in the last year; and what further steps he plans to take in 2012.

Paul Burstow: Progress in implementing the end of life care strategy and in related activities over the last year is detailed in the End of Life Care Strategy Third Annual Report, which was published in September 2011, The report has already been placed in the Library and is available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_130239
	As referred to in the report, this work will continue in 2012. Important initiatives include the national survey of bereaved relatives, the roll-out of electronic palliative care co-ordination systems, the work on palliative care funding, support for the national Dying Matter coalition and implementation of the End of Life Care for Adults Quality Standard developed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Patient Access Scheme

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) pharmacological treatments and (b) associated indications for a patient access scheme have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence since it was established.

Simon Burns: The treatments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence where a patient access scheme was considered as part of the relevant technology appraisal are listed in the following table. Further information is available on the Institute's website at:
	www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/howwework/paslu/patientaccessschemesliaisonunit.jsp
	
		
			 Technology appraisal (TA) number Treatment Indication 
			 TA129 Bortezomib (Velcade) Multiple myeloma 
			 TA155 Ranibizumab (Lucentis) Macular degeneration (Acute wet AMD) 
			 TA162 Erlotinib (Tarceva) Non small cell lung cancer 
			 TA169 Sunitinib (Sutent) Renal cell carcinoma 
			 TA171 Lenalidomide (Revlimid) Multiple myeloma 
			 TA176 Cetuximab (Erbitux) Metastatic colorectal cancer (first line) 
			 TA179 Sunitinib (Sutent) Gastrointestinal stromal tumour 
			 TA180 Ustekinumab (Stelera) Moderate to severe psoriasis 
			 TA185 Trabectedin (Yondelis) Advanced soft tissue sarcoma 
			 TA186 Certolizumab pegol (Cimzia) Rheumatoid arthritis 
			 TA192 Gefitinib (Iressa) Non small cell lung cancer 
			 TA215 Pazopanib (Votrient) Advanced renal cell carcinoma 
			 TA218 Azacitidine (Vidaza) Myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia and acute myeloid leukaemia 
			 TA220 Golimumab (Simponi) Psoriatic arthritis 
			 TA221 Romiplostim (Nplate) Chronic idiopathic (immune) thrombocytopenic purpura 
			 TA225 Golimumab (Simponi) Rheumatoid arthritis 
			 TA233 Golimumab (Simponi) Ankylosing spondylitis 
			 TA235 Mifamurtide (Mepact) High grade resectable non-metastic osteosarcoma 
			 TA238 Tocilizumab (RoActemra) Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis 
			 TA241 Nicotinic (Taiga) Imagine-resistant chronic myeloid leukaemia

Physiotherapy: Administrative Delays

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of (a) the provision of and (b) waiting times for NHS physiotherapy services in (i) Crawley and (ii) West Sussex.

Simon Burns: No assessment has been made centrally. It is the responsibility of local national health service organisations to commission services to meet the needs of their communities, including the provision of physiotherapy services. Currently there are no mandated data held centrally regarding physiotherapy waiting times unless part of a consultant-led episode within 18-week pathways.
	The Allied Health Professions (AHP) Referral to Treatment (RTT) Revised Guide, published in December 2011, sets out a framework of rules for clock starts and clock stops to measure waiting times for patients when accessing NHS AHP services including physiotherapy. This was followed by a letter to the service from the Chief Health Professions Officer on 16 January 2012.
	All AHPs delivering NHS funded care are encouraged to base their local data collections, local flows and reporting of AHP RTT data on the Community Information Data Set structure in anticipation of a national mandate for collection and reporting of data. Work is ongoing to provide the mechanisms for information flows to report AHP RTT centrally.
	The ‘Allied Health Professional Referral to Treatment Revised Guide 2011’ can be found at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_131969.pdf
	and a copy has been placed in the Library.

Prescription Drugs: Shortages

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of prescription drugs manufactured in the UK were sold abroad since (a) January 2011 and (b) January 2012;
	(2)  which drugs the NHS and pharmacists are experiencing shortages of in each primary care trust.

Simon Burns: This information is not available centrally.

Prescription Drugs: Shortages

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what meetings he has had with pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and wholesalers on prescription drug shortages since February 2011;
	(2)  what meetings he has had to discuss shortages of prescription drugs since February 2011.

Simon Burns: The Department has regular meetings with supply chain representatives to discuss and mitigate the impact of supply difficulties associated with parallel exports. The Department also works closely with pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers, pharmacists and the national health service to ensure patients can continue to obtain their medicines quickly and conveniently.

Prescription Drugs: Shortages

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many wholesalers operate in the UK selling prescription drugs from manufacturers to pharmacists; whether this number is limited; and who is responsible for setting any such limit;
	(2)  how many pharmacists have sold prescription drugs abroad through wholesale subsidiary companies.

Simon Burns: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), an executive agency of the Department, regulates manufacturers and wholesale dealers of medicinal products for human use in the United Kingdom on behalf of the UK Licensing Authority.
	Records held on the MHRA’s main data repository for information on wholesale dealers’ licences have identified that 1,711 licensed wholesale dealers are authorised to wholesale deal in Prescription only Medicines for human use.
	The Licensing Authority regulates in the interest of public health. It is not a competition regulator and does not set a limit on the number of UK licensed wholesale dealers. However licensed wholesale dealers must meet statutory safety standards.
	Only a licensed wholesale dealer may wholesale distribute medicines to other European Economic Area member states. The Licensing Authority does not hold any data on such wholesale distribution transactions.

Prescription Drugs: Shortages

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which prescription drugs UK pharmacists and hospitals are experiencing shortages of; and which drugs were in short supply in 2011.

Simon Burns: This information is not available centrally. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee collates reports from pharmacy contractors on medicines that they have had difficulty sourcing and publishes the Branded (medicines) Shortages List on their website.

Spinal Injuries: Health Services

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to form a single spinal injuries commissioning body.

Paul Burstow: There are no plans to form a single commissioning body for spinal injuries.
	Certain elements of services for people with spinal injuries are currently designated as “specialised”. Under the provisions of the Health and Social Care Bill, the NHS Commissioning Board will in future commission such services. By commissioning these services once through the NHS Commissioning Board, we will be able to avoid duplication in planning and ensure that the highest level of care is commissioned for patients regardless of their geographical location.
	Other services are currently commissioned and provided locally. These services will, subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill, be commissioned by clinical commissioning groups. Clinical commissioning groups will have the freedom to decide which aspects of commissioning activity they undertake fully themselves and which aspects require collaboration across several groups, for example through a lead commissioner managing the contract with a large hospital or commissioning low volume services not covered by national and regional specialised services.

Transplant Surgery: Waiting Lists

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many people in (a) Kent and (b) Dartford constituency have been (i) waiting on the organ transplant list and (ii) received organ transplants in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many people in (a) Kent and (b) Dartford constituency died whilst waiting on the organ transplant list in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The information requested is provided in the following tables.
	
		
			 Number on the active (1)  transplant list as at 31 March 2008 to 2011 and on the current list as at 1 March 2012, by organ and financial year, for Kent 
			 March each year 
			 Organ 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Kidney 101 114 127 124 118 
			 Kidney/pancreas 3 7 5 5 8 
			 Pancreas 1 0 2 1 1 
			 Heart 3 6 4 5 3 
			 Lung(s) 9 6 8 4 3 
			 Heart/lung 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Liver 5 7 6 10 12 
			 Other multi organ 0 1 0 1 0 
			 Total 123 141 152 150 145 
			 (1) ‘Active’ means the patient is currently in a state to receive a transplant. Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Number of organ transplants, 1 April 2007 to 29 February 2012, by organ and financial year, for Kent 
			 Organ 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 (1) 
			 Kidney (deceased) 23 24 25 31 20 
			 Kidney (live) 31 44 46 35 30 
			 Kidney/pancreas 4 4 8 3 4 
			 Pancreas 1 2 0 0 0 
			 Pancreas islets 0 0 2 0 0 
			 Heart 1 2 6 3 2 
			 Lung(s) 3 3 5 7 4 
			 Liver (deceased) 18 15 22 13 16 
			 Liver (live) 0 1 0 0 0 
			 Other multi organ 0 0 3 0 0 
			 Total 81 95 117 92 76 
			 (1) 1 April 2011 to 29 February 2012 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Number on the active (1)  transplant list as at 31 March 2008 to 2011 and on the current list as at 1 March 2012, by organ and financial year, for Dartford constituency 
			 March  each year 
			 Organ 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Kidney 2 6 9 8 4 
			 Kidney/pancreas 0 0 1 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Lung 0 0 1 .0 0 
			 Liver 0 4 1 3 3 
			 Total 2 10 12 11 7 
			 (1 )‘Active’ means the patient is currently in a state to receive a transplant. Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Number of organ transplants, 1 April 2007 to 29 February 2012, by organ and financial year, for Dartford constituency 
			 Organ 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 (1) 
			 Kidney (deceased) 0 1 1 1 2 
			 Kidney (live) 1 4 2 1 1 
			 Kidney/pancreas 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Lung(s) 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Liver (deceased) 3 1 4 0 3 
			 Total. 4 6 7 4 6 
			 (1) 1 April 2011 to 29 February 2012 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Deaths on the organ transplant list—by financial year, for Kent 
			 Organ 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 (1) 
			 Kidney 6 6 4 1 3 
			 Kidney/pancreas 1 0 0 0 1 
			 Pancreas 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Heart. 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Lung(s) 2 1 0 1 0 
			 Liver 6 4 5 1 1 
			 Other multi organ 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Total 15 11 11 3 6 
			 (1) 1 April 2011 to 29 February 2012 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Deaths on the organ transplant list—by financial year for Dartford constituency 
			 Organ 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 (1) 
			 Kidney 0 1 1 0 1 
			 Liver 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Total 0 1 1 1 1 
			 (1) 1 April 2011 to 29 February 2012 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

HOME DEPARTMENT

Alcoholic Drinks: Redditch

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the costs to the police of alcohol abuse in Redditch constituency in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office estimates the annual cost to society of alcohol related crime in England and Wales at £8 billion to £13 billion. This estimate was published in the impact assessment accompanying the Government’s proposal for a mandatory code of practice for alcohol retailers which can be found at:
	http://www.ialibrary.bis.gov.uk/uploaded/IA%20Alcohol%20Mandatory%20Code.pdf
	Breakdowns below the national level or relating specifically to the police are not available.

Alcoholic Drinks: Southampton

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the cost to the police of alcohol abuse in the city of Southampton in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office estimates the annual cost to society of alcohol related crime in England and Wales at £8 billion to £13 billion. This estimate was published in the impact assessment accompanying the Government's proposal for a mandatory code of practice for alcohol retailers which can be found at:
	http://www.ialibrary.bis.gov.uk/uploaded/IA%20Alcohol%20Mandatory%20Code.pdf
	Breakdowns below the national level or relating specifically to the police are not available.

Asylum

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of expenditure contained in her Department's Spring Supplementary Estimate 2011-12 relates to asylum support; for what reason that expenditure is lower than originally forecast; and what proportion that expenditure is of reduced spending at the UK Border Agency.

Damian Green: The asylum support budget for 2011-12 was £391 million, which is 4% of Home Office Resource DEL (departmental expenditure limit).
	The supplementary estimate memorandum confirms that this budget was reduced during the course of the year, reflecting a lower than anticipated population of supported asylum seekers. The lower population reflects both a lower than anticipated intake of new asylum seekers and a higher level of cessations.
	The UK Border Agency annual report will set out actual spend in 2011-12 in due course.

Civil Disorder

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many claims under the Riots (Damages) Act 1886 in relation to public disorder in London in August 2011 have been (a) made, (b) accepted as valid and (c) paid.

Nick Herbert: Claims under the Riot (Damages) Act are made directly to police authorities. Police Authorities assess claims made to them and then pay such compensation as they see fit. The Home Office will reimburse all payments made by police authorities under the Riot (Damages) Act.

Crime

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of (a) individuals and (b) gangs engaged in cross-border criminal activities broken down by the nature of the criminal activity in each of the last 10 years.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 6 March 2012
	The police recorded crime data collected centrally by Home Office Statistics have details of the nature of the crimes which are reported to and recorded by the police. However, it is not possible to state from these data the number of individuals or gangs involved in the commission of offences or whether these involved cross-border activities.

Detention Centres

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in immigration detention were primary carers for children before they were placed in detention.

Damian Green: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The UK Border Agency does not hold statistical information centrally on this subject, and the resource required to interrogate individual records manually would be of disproportionate cost to the Department.

Detention Centres

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many single parents with dependent children are being held in immigration detention facilities in the UK.

Damian Green: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people in detention, held solely under Immigration Act powers. Q4 2011 detention figures were published on 23 February 2012 and are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Science, research and statistics web pages at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Detention Centres: Children

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children are being held in UK Border Agency immigration detention facilities with their parents.

Damian Green: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people in detention, held solely under Immigration Act powers. Q4 2011 detention figures were published on 23 February 2012 and are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Science, research and statistics web pages at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Drugs: Crime

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were charged with possession of drugs in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) London in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: Charging data are not collated centrally and therefore proceedings data taken from the Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database have been provided in lieu.
	The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for possession of a controlled drug in the Greater London area (includes the City of London and Metropolitan police force areas) from 2006 to 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
	Court proceedings data are not available at parliamentary constituency level.
	Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May 2012.
	
		
			 Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for possession of a controlled drug, Greater London (1) , 2006 - 10 (2, ) (3) 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 Number of proceedings 7,205 8,213 10,109 10,546 11,549 
			 (1) Includes City of London and Metropolitan police force areas. (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Emergency Calls

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) genuine and (b) malicious emergency calls were received by Kent police in each of the last three years.

Nick Herbert: The latest figures are available from the Home Office and show the number of 999 calls received by Kent police, 2008-09 to 2010-11. These figures are provisional, subject to change and have not been verified by the force. The breakdown of whether the emergency calls were genuine or malicious is not held centrally by the Home Office.
	
		
			 Number of 999 calls received by Kent police, 2008-09 to 2010-11 (1,) () (2) 
			  Number 
			 2008-09 188,191 
			 2009-10 259,227 
			 2010-11 265,934 
			 (1) All figures are provisional, subject to change and have not been verified by the force. (2) Source: Home Office using data received from police forces via the Annual Data Requirement, ADR441.

Freezing Orders

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether (1) Alexi Anichin, (2) Oleg Logunov, (3) Oleg Silchenko, (4) Alexander Matveev, (5) Gennady Karlov, (6) Natalya Vinogradova, (7) Alexander Ryabinin, (8) Sergei Oleinik, (9) A A Malygina, (10) M O Sapunova, (11) E V Mikhailov, (12) R A Gritsai, (13) I A Varganov, (14) N I Dmitrieva, (15) Artem Kuznetsov, (16) Aleksey Droganov, (17) Dmitri Tolchinskiy, (18) A A Krechetov, (19) Aleksandr Klevtsoc, (20) Anatoly Mikhalkin, (21) Pavel Karpov, (22) Ivan Glukhov, (23) Nikolai Budilo, (24) Oleg Urzhumtsev, (25) Aleksandr Kuvaldin, (26) Victor Voronin, (27) Stanislav Gordievsky, (28) Natalia Yakimovich, (29) Sergei Lazutkin, (30) Arkady Mazhaev, (31) Aleksandr Burov, (32) Andrey Pechegin, (33) Viktor Grin, (34) Yelena Khimina, (35) Sergei Zhemchuzhnikov, (36) Raisa Burmistrova, (37) Aleksandra Kuznetsova, (38) Yulia Koltunova, (39) Olga Stepanova, (40) Olga Tsymay, (41) Svetlana Dubrovskaya, (42) Olga Davydova, (43) Yekaterina Frolova, (44) Olesya Shargorodskaya, (45) Maksim Tretyakov, (46) Ivan Prokopenko, (47) Dmitry Komnov, (48) Dmitry Krato, (49) Larisa Litvinova, (50) Sergei Podoprogorov, (51) Aleksey Krivoruchko, (52) Svetlana Ukhnalyova, (53) Yelena Stashina, (54) Galina Filippova, (55) Tatyana Korneyeva, (56) Rufina Gazizova, (57) Andrey Yushkov, (58) Jelena Kim, (59) Ildar Salimzyanov and (60) Margarita Zinurova is the subject of (a) a UK visa ban and (b) a ban order freezing their assets in the UK.

Damian Green: holding answer 29 February 2012
	In line with long established practice the Home Office does not comment on individual cases.

Licensed Premises: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many establishments in (a) the London borough of Bexley and (b) London have had their licence to sell alcohol withdrawn in each year since 2005.

James Brokenshire: Available data relates to the numbers of premises licences suspended by a court or served a closure notice and club premises certificates withdrawn (under section 90) for the London borough of Bexley and all London boroughs in total. The information is available from 2006-07 to 2009-10 and is given in the tables set out as follows:
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of licences suspended by a court (1)  or withdrawn (2) , Bexley and London boroughs, April 2006 to March 2007 
			  Premises licences Club premises certificates 
			 Licensing authority Suspended by a court Withdrawn (section 90) 
			 Bexley borough 0 0 
			 London boroughs total 6 0 
			 (1) Where a premises licence is suspended following a review, or from 6 April 2007, where a premises licence is suspended by a court, under section 147B(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) for the sale or supply of alcohol, following an offence of persistently selling to underage children. (2 )Where a club premises certificate is withdrawn under section 90 of the Licensing Act 2003. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number of licences suspended by a court (1) , served closure notice (2)  or withdrawn (3) , Bexley and London boroughs ,  April 2007 to March 2008 
			  Premises licences Club premises certificates 
			 Licensing authority Suspended by a court Closure notice Withdrawn (section 90) 
			 Bexley borough 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 London boroughs(4) total 3 17 1 
			 (1) Where a premises licence is suspended by a court, under section 147B(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) for the sale or supply of alcohol, following an offence of persistently selling to underage children. (2) Where a premises is prohibited from selling alcohol for 48 hours following a closure notice under S.169A. This information was collected for the first time during 2007-08. (3) Where a club premises certificate is withdrawn under section 90 of the Licensing Act 2003. (4) The borough of Bromley could not extract closure and withdrawn information from their system. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Number of licences suspended by a court (1) , served closure notice (2)  or withdrawn (3) , Bexley and London boroughs, April 2008 to March  2009 
			  Premises licences Club premises certificates 
			 Licensing authority Suspended by a court Closure notice Withdrawn (section 90) 
			 Bexley borough 0 0 0 
			 London boroughs total 2 4 2 
			 (1) Where a premises licence is suspended by a court, under section 147B(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) for the sale or supply of alcohol, following an offence of persistently selling to underage children. (2) Where a premises is prohibited from selling alcohol for 48 hours following a closure notice under S.169A. (3) Where a club premises certificate is withdrawn under section 90 of the Licensing Act 2003. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: Number of licences suspended by a court (1) , served closure notice (2 ) or withdrawn (3) , Bexley and London boroughs, April 2009 to March 2010 
			  Premises licences Club premises certificates 
			 Licensing authority Suspended by a court Closure notice Withdrawn (section 90) 
			 Bexley borough 0 1 0 
			 London boroughs total 0 16 0 
			 (1) Where a premises licence is suspended by a court, under section 147B(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) for the sale or supply of alcohol, following an offence of persistently selling to underage children. (2) Where a premises is prohibited from selling alcohol for 48 hours following a closure notice under S.169A. (3) Where a club premises certificate is withdrawn under section 90 of the Licensing Act 2003. 
		
	
	Alcohol licensing statistics for 2005 are not available centrally.

Members: Correspondence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to respond to the letter of 24 February 2012 from the hon. Member for Harrow West on the possible deportation of a constituent to Sri Lanka; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: holding answer 1 March 2012
	I refer the hon. Member to my letter of 28 February 2012.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to answer the letter sent to the Minister for Immigration by the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on 23 January with regard to Ms N. Ali.

Damian Green: I refer the right hon. Member to my letter of 5 March 2012.

Metals: Theft

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports she has received on the number of instances of metal theft that involved liquified petroleum gas cylinders, in the two most recent years for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: We believe that the theft of gas cylinders for their scrap value is a growing problem. The Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers are working with UKLPG, the trade association for the Liquid Petroleum Gas industry, and the scrap metal industry to highlight the serious risks associated with handling cylinders that contain flammable gas, and to promote legitimate disposal routes. Crime data held centrally by the Home Office are not however available at the level of detail required to provide specific information relating to the theft of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders.

Metals: Theft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the funding set aside for a metal theft task force has been allocated; and in which areas of the UK it is being spent.

James Brokenshire: The British Transport Police is the lead agency for the delivery of the national Metal Theft Taskforce and is responsible for developing, implementing and managing the taskforce, including how funding is allocated and in which areas. The taskforce will operate in England, Wales and Scotland.
	The Home Office will report on the taskforce's progress in due course.

National Crime Agency: Costs

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the projected cost is of establishing a shadow National Crime Agency as set out in her Department's Business Plan 2011-15.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The Home Office business plan 2011-15 committed to introducing a shadow the National Crime Agency. Costs will be minimal in this phase as it will primarily be about ensuring better co-ordination of existing law enforcement activity. Any additional costs will be funded from existing budgets.

Police

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance her Department issues to police authorities on the effect of the changes in expenditure by her Department on reorganisation of front-line services.

Nick Herbert: The Government have not issued any such guidance. Decisions on force spending are for individual chief constables and their police authorities (and, from November this year, police and crime commissioners). The Government do, however, have a clear expectation that frontline services should be prioritised and we are supporting the police service in a number of ways to deliver transformational change in order to do so.

Police: Information and Communications Technology

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of costs associated with establishing a police information and communications technology company.

Nick Herbert: The costs associated with establishing a police information communications technology company are being examined. The company will be delivered within existing, funding allocations and projected costs will be subject to official scrutiny in the full business case.

Reoffenders: Foreign Nationals

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals formerly held in immigration removal centres and released subsequently reoffended in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: holding answer 16 January 2012
	In the period between April 2010 and March 2011, 153 foreign national offenders who met the deportation criteria and were formerly held in an immigration removal centre have subsequently reoffended.
	This information is taken from internal management information and is subject to change.

Riots (Damages) Act 1886

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements have been made for (a) acknowledging and (b) reporting progress to claimants on claims under the Riots (Damages) Act 1886 relating to the riots of August 2011.

Nick Herbert: Police Authorities are responsible for acknowledging and assessing claims under the Riot Damages Act, both from insurance companies and those directly from individuals and businesses who were uninsured. Around 90% of businesses and individuals affected by the riots were insured, and able to make a claim to their insurance company. For those without insurance, the Government set up a claims handling bureau to help victims make claims from their police authority and the majority of these have now been processed.

UK Border Agency

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many UK Border Agency (UKBA) employees will be transferred to the UK Border Force when it is separated from the UKBA.

Damian Green: Under current assumptions, it is estimated that 7,539 full-time equivalent Border Force staff will transfer from the UK Border Agency. This does not include any additional UK Border Agency support staff that may transfer as a result of ongoing discussions.

West Midlands Police

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many officers are based at each of West Midlands Police Authority's Road Traffic Policing Unit bases; and how many arrests such officers have made in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many specially trained traffic officers will be employed by the West Midlands Police Authority's Road Traffic Policing Unit in each of the next four years;
	(3)  how many specially trained traffic officers worked for the West Midlands Police Authority's Road Traffic Policing Unit in each of the last three years.

Nick Herbert: This information is not collected centrally. These are matters for the chief constable of west midlands police.

West Midlands Police

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect of changes in expenditure by her Department on the West Midlands Police Authority's Road Traffic Policing Unit; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: No such assessment has been made by the Home Office. Decisions on force spending—including on road traffic policing units—are for individual chief constables and their police authorities (and, from November this year, police and crime commissioners) to make within the resources available.